Environmentally friendly CO2 can be injected continuously as a supercritical fluid into the hot melt of a plastic extruder, producing medium and low density thermoplastic foams with consistent mechanical properties. Foamed plastics reduce material usage and product weight. Since the raw material of most plastics comes from either crude oil or natural gas, foamed plastics save energy in production and shipping.

The optimization of plastics production requires an understanding of:

● Cell nucleation and growth process

● Solubility of foaming agents

● Pressure/Volume/Temperature (pvT) of polymer gas solutions