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The expandable microspheres are used, among other things, as a physical blowing agent and as an ultra-lightweight filler for density and weight reduction in a wide range of applications. Their use can reduce costs, modify surfaces and increase thermal insulation.
Expandable microspheres are hollow polymeric spheres each of which comprises a thermoplastic shell encapsulating liquid hydrocarbon. When heated to a temperature high enough to soften the shell, the increasing pressure of the hydrocarbon will cause the microsphere to expand, increasing the sphere volume by 80 to 100 times.
The density of microspheres after expansion can be lower than 30 kg/m3(0.03 g/cm3) which makes them an ideal lightweight filler and a foaming agent for all kinds of plastics and rubber.
| FORM | APPLICATION |
| COMPOUND GRANULE | PVC/TPR/PP/TPV |
| POWDER | PVC/THERMO/ARTIFICIAL LEATHER(MARBLE) / PRINT/ COATING |
* For more specific technical data sheet, PLS feel free to contact us anytime.
Technical Forum about EXPANDABLE MICROSPHERE
LIGHT WEIGHT
Foam manufacturers are pursuing lightweight, comfortable and eco-friendly solutions. For automotive and aerospace industries in particular, lower density materials that cut load and fuel consumption are a huge cost-safer. Besides, lower density often means less amount of materials required which is conducive to protecting natural resources.
The density of our expandable microspheres is only 1/50 of that of water. Adding the microspheres to the original materials will significantly reduce the overall weight of your products. Take vehicles for an example, for every 10% weight reduction, the fuel efficiency can be increased by 6%-8%. That says, if we applied microspheres in the making of certain auto parts to bring the vehicle weight down by 100kg, the fuel consumption per 100 km could be reduced by 0.3-0.5L. Other contributions Our expandable microspheres do include preventing shrinkage and warpage in injection molding, lowering the permittivity of various materials, improving thermal insulation, and more.
The use of microspheres as ultra-lightweight fillers is already being used in a variety of products. By using hollow microspheres, a reduction in density and weight can be achieved and the volume of materials can be increased. This can be useful in various products such as fillers, sealants and coatings.
One of the many advantages of our microspheres is that they can be incorporated into a variety of other polymers. Microspheres are also available as a masterbatch with an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) or styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) as a carrier material. The use of microspheres can reduce costs, modify surfaces and increase thermal insulation.
Resilience & Compressibility
The microspheres are core-shell-like spherical particles with a thermoplastic polymer shell enveloping gas, which can be compressed under pressure, but can be easily restored to the original size after the pressure released. That accounts for its impressive resilience and thus could be applied in various fields including but not limited to thermoplastic materials as thermoplastic elastomers or rubber.
Besides, vehicle underbody coating (UBC) added with microspheres shows higher resistance against gravel; TPV sealing strip combined with microspheres shows less transmogrification against compression; wine corks containing microspheres gain stronger elasticity and thereby present better tightness.
