Mechanical properties and morphology of modified celluloid foams

Celluloid is a highly flammable plastic made of nitrocellulose and camphor, as a plasticizer, and it has recently received interest as a material for making combustible containers. For this particular application, the inherent combustion properties of celluloid are enhanced by foaming the material. This work evaluates novel celluloid-like formulations in which camphor is replaced by alternative plasticizers and alternative nucleating agents are also evaluated to further improve the properties of the foams. The effects of these new components on the tensile properties and on the morphology of the combustible plastic are investigated for three plasticizers and for two nucleating agents. Results show that some plasticizers bring mechanical properties exceeding those of regular celluloid, an improvement of Young modulus and tensile stresses by more than 100% was observed. The effect of the nucleating agent on the foamed material's microstructure is also clearly observed, size and number of cells are correlated to the nature and the concentration of the nucleating agent.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the effects of alternative plasticizers and nucleating agents on novel celluloid-like formulations, finding that some plasticizers can improve mechanical properties beyond regular celluloid, while the nucleating agents have a clear impact on the microstructure of foamed materials.