Polimeri Europa Extir® Type A 5000 Expandable Polystyrene, Standard

Subcategory: Polystyrene

Close Analogs: Polimeri Europa now has Enichem's plastics businesses. This grade is no longer in the product line.

Key Words: Expanded Polystyrene, EPS

Material Notes:
Particle size range is 0.9 - 1.6 mm. Minimum apparent density after two expansions is 9 g/l. Minimum apparent density on a discontinuous pre-expander is 13 g/l.

Processing technology used for Type A 5000 is: Blocks.
Specific characteristics: High expandability.
Typical applications of Type A 5000 are: Low density blocks - Cutting articles for packaging - Lightened concrete

General Information About Extir®: Extir®, EniChem's expandable polystyrene offers excellent thermal insulation and shock absorption and produces light weight and hygienic products. Its processing requires low energy consumption and has a low environmental impact - it uses a pure aliphatic hydrocarbon (not CFC or HCFC) as a blowing agent. The bead diameter varies according to the grade and application. Extir® is used in several fields such as building construction, packaging, automotive, marine, etc.

Processing: Processing occurs in two steps - a pre-expansion and a second molding phase. In the pre-expansion a moderate heating in the form of dry saturated steam is applied to the beads. This causes softening of the polymer and expansion of the blowing agent, resulting in an increase of the bead volume and the generation of a cellular internal structure. The degree of volume increase is governed, as required, by varying the time of contact with the steam. Before the molding phase, the pre-expanded beads require some hours of storage to mature to allow the absorption of air into the cellular structure. They are then fed into the closed mold where occurs, again by the use of steam, a final expansion into a single coherent mass. Current technologies enable production of many varied shapes, from simple blocks to complicated shapes for sophisticated packaging.

Information provided by EniChem.