Foamed-plastic market

U.S. Foamed Plastics Market and Directoy, Technomic Publishing Co., Stamford, Coim., 1973. 

Surveys of foam markets are frequently prepared by raw-material suppliers as well as various marketing-research organizations. A very useful publication is the U.S. Foamed Plastics Markets Directory, published annually by Technomic Publishing Co., Lancaster, PA 17604. 

The use of CFCs as foam blowing agents has decreased 35% from 1986 levels. Polyurethanes, phenoHcs, extmded polystyrenes, and polyolefins are blown with CFCs, and in 1990 the building and appHance insulation markets represented about 88% of the 174,000 t of CFCs used in foams (see Foamed plastics). 

Comfort cushioning is the largest single application of cellular polymers flexible foams are the principal contributors to this field. However, the rapid growth rate of structural, packaging, and insulation applications has brought their volume over that of flexible loams during the past Tew years. Table 5 shows U.S, consumption of foamed plastics by resin and market,... 

This is a bimonthly publication published by Technomic Publishing Co., Inc. at 851 New Holland Avenue, Box 3535, Lancaster, PA 17604. This journal has been published for 24 years and is a major source of information in foamed plastics technology, covering new developments and applications. In addition to articles on product applications and markets there is an index of foamed plastic patents from industrial nations and a section on industry news. 

It is estimated that 615 million pounds of rigid polyurethane foam were made during 1979.(1). The market for these foamed plastics has been growing at an annual 15 percent rate for the last few years. It is projected that similar growth may resume in future years. The construction market is the key to future growth, as the greatest share of rigid polyurethane foam is used in thermal insulation applications. 

Rigid polyurethane foams have a special problem when it comes to making a fair statement about their R-values. Essentially, all of these products are expanded with chlorofluorocarbon 11 (CFC-11), which is trichlorofluoromethane. At the time of formation, all of these materials have essentially the same R-value of about 7.5 to 8.0 per inch of thickness. At one time, that is how these products were marketed. The initial thermal resistance, however, changes with time. Where the foamed plastic is exposed to air, the air migrates into the cells, diluting the chlorofluorocarbon gas. The thermal resistance decreases when this takes place. This is a slow process and may go on for years. To the extent that the foam is sandwiched between air impervious skins, the process is all but halted. 

Much of this growth has been recorded periodically in Modern Plastics (particularly every January), the Journal of Cellular Plastics, and the annual "Modern Plastics Encyclopedia." Collection of information in textbook form began with Ferrigno in 1967, Banning in 1969, and Frisch and Saunders in 1972-73. More recently Meinecke and Clark, and most recently Hilyard, have made notable contributions to the understanding of foam properties. This chapter will summarize the processes by which foamed plastics are produced, the major classes, the relationships between foam structure and properties, the leading polymers used in foam production, and their major applications and markets. 

Silver-based biocides are also gaining a share in plastics markets, especially in Japan, where silver ions supported in inorganic matrix/substrates (such as zeolites or alumina-silica), are often used in hospital settings. Silver-nanoparticle-coated PU foams have been shown to be effective antibacterial water filters [46]. 

Although these new lightweight porous materials were envisioned as supportive materials as well as insulative materials in the base patents [3,4] their market development remained slow. This can be seen by the fact that even in 1952 polyisocyanates, mainly toluene diisocyanate (TDI), were available worldwide in quantities of less than 100 tonnes. After this rather hesitant start of polyurethane history and the first major switch from solid materials to porous foamed plastics, the industry has been characterised by significant changes in concept and the resulting industrial application of these switches. 

The largest markets for foamed plastics are in home insulation (polystyrene, polyurethane, phenol formaldehyde) and in packaging, including various disposable food and drink containers. Also refers to the occurrence of frothy mixture of air and a slurry that can reduce the effectiveness of the product, and cause sluggish hydraulic operation, air binding of oil pumps, and overflow of tanks or sumps. 

The demand for foamed plastics is driven by the desire for (a) weight reduction, (b) improved thermal insulation and (c) lower part costs. The size of the global plastic foam market was estimated in 2002 as 6.8 M tonnes/year (of which the US share was approximately half), growing at 3% a year, with more rapid growth in insulating foam for the construction industry. Because of the obviously low density of foams, consumption expressed in terms of tonnage fails to convey the high volmne of product sold. 

Europeans are enthusiastic about hydrocarbons like cyclopentane as blowing agents, and have not had too many problems with their flammability. Replacing 10% of the pentane by isobutane is said to allow the production of foams with improved insulation and mechanical properties and lower material costs. US manufacturers have observed the success of the European hydrocarbon policy and its safety record (despite fears about flammability) and are also beginning to use pentane. Several producers in South America, Australia and much of Asia have already moved to hydrocarbons, which are sold by petrochemical companies and their subsidiaries. Market share held by hydrocarbons is over 50% in some sectors of the foamed plastics industry. 

Economic Aspects. In 1994 there were 8 operational insulation board producers in the United States. These mills produced about 1.15 X 10 m (2). The number of mills and total production volume have also decreased in this industry, primarily as a result of changes in building codes and avadabihty of other competitive sheathing products. Both wood composite panels and plastic foam sheathings have captured a segment of these markets. 

CeUular urea—formaldehyde and phenoHc resin foams have been used to some extent in interior sound-absorbing panels and, in Europe, expanded polystyrene has been used in the design of sound-absorbing doors (233). In general, cost, dammabUity, and cleaning difficulties have prevented significant penetration of the acoustical tile market. The low percent of redection of sound waves from plastic foam surfaces has led to their use in anechoic chambers (216). 

G. P. Krat2schmer, Plastic Trends, T44 PlasticFoams, Predicasts Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, 1977 W. P. Weiser, T71 U.S. Plastic Foam Markets, Part I-Industry Study, Predicasts Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, Aug., 1983. 

Polyols. Several important polyhydric alcohols or polyols are made from formaldehyde. The principal ones include pentaerythritol, made from acetaldehyde and formaldehyde trimethylolpropane, made from -butyraldehyde and formaldehyde and neopentyl glycol, made from isobutyraldehyde and formaldehyde. These polyols find use in the alkyd resin (qv) and synthetic lubricants markets. Pentaerythritol [115-77-5] is also used to produce rosin/tall oil esters and explosives (pentaerythritol tetranitrate). Trimethylolpropane [77-99-6] is also used in urethane coatings, polyurethane foams, and multiftmctional monomers. Neopentyl glycol [126-30-7] finds use in plastics produced from unsaturated polyester resins and in coatings based on saturated polyesters. 

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