POLYMER FOAM | TECHNOLOGY


Developments in polymer foams


Polymer foaming provides weight saving and performance enhancing opportunities for polymer processors. Mark Holmes explores come of the latest foaming additive and polymer developments


Foamed polymers enable end users in a wide variety of industries to meet increasing demands for lighter weight parts or to add performance attributes such as rigidity and insulation. There is already a broad range of polymer foaming tech- nologies, both physical and chemical, available to plastics processors allowing solutions to be optimised for an expanding range of applications. The latest introductions include both blowing agents and polymer resins that are better opti- mised to support a cellular structure. According to Peter Schroeck, President of Reedy Chemical Foam, the latest developments in polymer foam technologies and blowing agents are in the area of new high melt strength polypropyl- enes (HMS PP). “Borealis has supplied an excellent


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HMS PP for years. However, now Braskem, SABIC, and Lyondell Basell are all in various stages of introducing new technology. Compounders such as Asahi Kasei have also created foam-friendly PP compounds. This helps the performance of foamed PP in food packaging and automotive, in particular. High melt strength polymers are necessary to maximise weight reduction and retention of physical properties in the finished part,” he says. “Chemical foaming agents in general are showing


tremendous ease of use in precision processes for automotive moulding, medical device moulding, food packaging and blow moulded bottles. For automotive markets, density reduction is a priority. However, injection moulded parts for all markets can see cycle time improvements of 25% with no


Main image: Foamed


polymers save weight and material while adding


performance functions such as rigidity and improved thermal insulation


January 2018 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 59


PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK


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