Paper to the Polymer Processing Society Regional Meeting, Florianopolis, Brazil, 7th-10th November 2004

O K Ademosu and S F Bush

Abstract

Recent papers ^2, 3 have described the Rotofoam© process which combines in one stage the rotomoulding of hollow shapes with the in situ generation of foam to fill the cavities. The foam is usually polystyrene driven by a combination of blowing agents, but other systems may be used. This paper defines the material quantities and the processing variables needed to reconcile three competing objectives in making panels for applications in the storage and transportation of chilled and frozen foods. These objectives are maximum bending stiffness to weight ratio, maximum thermal insulation, and minimum manufactured cost. Results of experiments at both the laboratory and industrial scales are reported. Panel stiffness, short and long-term resistance to indenting, density and thermal conductivity measurements have been done to generate an algorithm for the overall optimisation of the process and product.

References

[1] O K Ademosu and D R Blackburn, Fibre-impregnation in Rotational Moulding and its effect on Mechanical and Thermal Properties, Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies, Dublin 2003.

[2] S F Bush and O K Ademosu, Combined Foaming and Rotomoulding: the Rotofoam Process, Eurofoam Conference 7-10 July 2002, Manchester, UK.

[3] S F Bush and O K Ademosu, Combined Foaming and Rotomoulding in the Rotofoam Process, Polymer Processing Society 19th Annual Meeting, Melbourne, Australia, 7-10 July 2003.