Holistic understanding of the process-structure-property relationship of chemically modified bead foams based on polyamide 12 (PA 12) by digitizing the process and using machine learning

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Holger Ruckdäschel
• Subject Area: Plastics Engineering
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 507656917

The economic and technical importance of bead foams has increased steadily since the middle of the last century. Since 2000, a number of new developments have been added to the established representatives, expandable polystyrene (EPS) and expanded polypropylene (EPP). Extrusion with the addition of blowing agents combined with underwater granulation (UWG) has gained relevance as a continuous manufacturing process for bead foams. The processing of engineering polymers into bead foams is often carried out with the addition of reactive additives. The already complicated process gains further complexity through the use of reactive components. So far, only a few studies have only described phenomenologically how individual material or process-specific variables influence the foamed beads. Yet, this interaction of many parameters has been considered mainly very superficial. A holistic explanation has not yet taken place due to the large amounts of data and the lack of collection of all data. Through the consistent use of digital methods, all relevant inline and offline data is now to be brought together. The aim is to explain the properties of the foame dbeads as a function of (i) the reactivity in the extrusion process and (ii) the variation of the UWG. Based on this, (iii) various machine learning models are to be created in order to achieve an understanding between the material systems used, the process and the foamed beads. As a result, the robustness of the process can be increased and the particle properties can be adjusted in a targeted manner.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants