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2007
Conference Paper
Titel
Extruded particle foams - Material- and process investigations
Alternative
Extrudierte Partikelschaumstoffe - Material- und Verfahrensuntersuchungen
Abstract
Particle foams are nowadays made of Polystyrene (EPS) or Polypropylene (EPP). The foaming of the polymers is mainly done by an autoclave process. The foaming of particles by the use of the autoclave process is a batch process and quite inflexible regarding the choice and adoption of raw materials and also additives to align the properties of the foam particles. An alternative proceeding to manufacture foam particles is the extrusion of granules containing blowing agents and expand this granules or the directly foam extrusion in combination with pelletizing. These technologies are more flexible referring the applicable raw materials and also the material changeover. The paper outlines extrusion technologies for granules containing blowing agents and foam extrusion for the particle foaming for new material developments. Exemplified on a foamable biopolymer the development of the foams and the process chain from the material improvement to the shaped foamed parts will be shown. Finally some examples of the reached properties of foamed particles and shaped parts will be given.