polymer foam 201446 november 2014, maritim hotel, cologne, germanyweb site httpswww.amiplastics.comeventseventcodec593 is foam expanding the foam markets worldwide are expanding as a solution to reducing material use, costs and weight in plastics and elastomer processing the art is in maintaining the ideal properties of products at the same time. the foam industry provides light weighting in a wide range of applications and has potential for use in all plastics processing and products. the key areas of current use are in packaging, insulation foam, furnishing, automotive and sports. foam can be manufactured to improve a wide variety of properties whilst minimising the material use &ndash for example in wall insulation for thermal and acoustic barrier, in packaging it can provide a thermal barrier and impact protection, which is also valued in footwear and in flooring. in addition structural foam supports the interior of high performance composites. there are ongoing developments that could open the door for more ventures in foaming new materials and adding new characteristics.unilever has focused on the density challenges to downgauging and the research division is among the experts in microcellular polymers meeting at ami&rsquos polymer foam 2014 conference, which is scheduled for 46 november 2014 in cologne, germany. there are big issues facing the industry in the near future as the prospect of a phasing out of azodicarbonamide in the eu, a blowing agent that is widely used in the pvc foam industry, comes closer. tramaco has been involved in the debate with the legislators on this matter. the polystyrene foam sector has been affected by changes to regulations affecting flame retardants and dow has a new class of brominated polymeric additives for this application.sustainability is a key theme this year with basf leading the conversation, lg hausys of south korea describing the research on extrusion foaming of pla for packaging applications and eps will be represented by the czech association. from the technology side, the fraunhofer institute for chemical technology ict will speak on foaming cellulosebased polymers.
