Polymer foam | technology
Developments in chemical foaming agents and nucleators, as well as innovation in foaming process
technologies, are opening up new market opportunities. Peter Mapleston reviews the latest introductions
Expanding potential for foams
Polymer foams are playing an increasing prominent role across diverse industries, most notably building & construction, packaging, furniture, and automotive. And, in response to market demands for improved performance and processing, producers of both thermoplastics and additives for foam production are upping their game. In addition, and of particular interest to foamed part producers, developers of chemical blowing agents are - for want of a better word - also expanding their offerings. An estimated 25m tonnes of plastics are used in
foams every year and that figure is expected to grow by close to 2.5% per year over the next 10 years. Around two-thirds of the market value is accounted for by polyurethanes, with polystyrene bead and extruded foam accounting for around another quarter. One major supplier of polymers for foam production, SABIC, considers foam technologies as essential to meet the future need for improvements in sustainability and efficiencies along global production and supply chains. “They offer material and energy savings while retaining or even improving product performance. And they offer benefits in thermal and acoustic insulation, cushioning and protection,” the company says. SABIC has identified “foaming and lightweighting” as
an important focus area, saying its “numerous polymer- based solutions can help the entire value chain become more efficient, more sustainable and more profitable.” The company, which has a strong portfolio of polyolefins and polystyrene for foams, is currently expanding its portfolio to include more polyolefins (including POP
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elastomers and POP plastomers), and engineering thermoplastics such as Lexan polycarbonate, modified polyphenylene ether, PPE (Noryl) and polyetherimide, PEI (Ultem). Several innovations are in the process of being
commercialised, SABIC says. SABIC LDPE 2502X0, for example, offers special benefits for the physical foam extrusion process as well as for the resulting light- weight foams. SABIC LDPE 2402CX0, meanwhile, offers benefits for crosslinkable (XL) foam extrusion process- es. XL foams have an improved properties-to-weight ratio, offering the possibility to use them in higher added-value applications. SABIC has also developed new “fast converting”
foam material solutions to provide further improve- ments in the production efficiencies of foam manufac- turers. SABIC LDPE 2102FC is the first in a series of products that combine up to 50% savings in degassing time – reducing the foam manufacturer’s inventory – to- gether with an improvement in production efficiency of up to 5% through reduced production waste and better foam consistency. Emanuel van der Ven, SABIC’s Global Technology
Leader Foam & Lightweight, discussed the fast converting technology at the Polymer Foam
This car bumper impact absorber is made in polypropylene particle foam from SABIC
January 2017 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 63
Main image: Foaming
technologies are likely to play an
increasingly
important role in polymer
processing as end users across all
industries look to improve product
sustainability
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