RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Effect of the molecular structure of TPU on the cellular structure of nanocellular polymers based on PMMA/TPU blends A1 Sánchez Calderón, Ismael A1 Bernardo García, Victoria A1 Santiago Calvo, Mercerdes A1 Naji, Haneen A1 Saiani, Alberto A1 Rodríguez Pérez, Miguel Ángel K1 Polímeros K1 Thermoplastics K1 Molecular structure K1 Materials science K1 Ciencia de los materiales K1 3312 Tecnología de Materiales AB In this work, the effects of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) chemistry and concentrationon the cellular structure of nanocellular polymers based on poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) arepresented. Three grades of TPU with different fractions of hard segments (HS) (60%, 70%, and 80%)have been synthesized by the prepolymer method. Nanocellular polymers based on PMMA havebeen produced by gas dissolution foaming using TPU as a nucleating agent in different contents(0.5 wt%, 2 wt%, and 5 wt%). TPU characterization shows that as the content of HS increases, thedensity, hardness, and molecular weight of the TPU are higher. PMMA/TPU cellular materials showa gradient cell size distribution from the edge of the sample towards the nanocellular core. In thecore region, the addition of TPU has a strong nucleating effect in PMMA. Core structure depends onthe HS content and the TPU content. As the HS or TPU content increases, the cell nucleation densityincreases, and the cell size is reduced. Then, the use of TPUs with different characteristics allowscontrolling the cellular structure. Nanocellular polymers have been obtained with a core relativedensity between 0.15 and 0.20 and cell sizes between 220 and 640 nm. PB MDPI SN 2073-4360 YR 2021 FD 2021 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/55068 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/55068 LA eng NO Polymers 2021, Vol.13, Nº.18, 18 pp. NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 28-nov-2024