Polymer Processing with Supercritical Fluids

The use of supercritical fluids (SCFs) in the polymer industry presents an opportunity to create unique products both now and in the future as demand and usage of the technology further develops. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the current research. SCFs are currently the subjects of intense research and commercial interest. Applications such as the RESS (rapid expansion of supercritical fluid solutions) process are part of standard industrial practice. In view of their ever-growing importance in the polymer industry there is a need to fully comprehend how supercritical fluids interrelate with polymeric materials to realise the potential that can be gained from their use. In Polymer Processing with Supercritical Fluids, the authors review the basic principles of SCFs and their application within the polymer industry: characteristics and properties, extraction of unwanted residual products, polymerisation solvents, and polymer impregnation. Processing applications such as plasticisation, foaming and blending are also considered. There is discussion of the potential within the polymer recycling industry for use of SCFs as cleaning agents or within supercritical oxidation processes. Around 400 references with abstracts from recent global literature accompany this review, sourced from the Rapra Polymer Library database, to facilitate further reading. A subject index and a company index are included.