A highly fire-resistant expanded polymeric material for thermal insulation, acoustic insulation and/or fire barrier contains rubber, expandable graphite, at least one alkaline earth metal component selected from alkaline earth metal carbonates, alkaline earth metal hydroxides, hydrates of either, and combinations thereof, and a component containing silica or a silicate. The expanded polymeric material is preferably manufactured by a process including decomposition of a chemical blowing agent.

The present invention aims to provide a flexible resin foam having excellent shapeability and a resin foam sheet, an adhesive tape, a member for a vehicle, and a member for a building each including the resin foam. Provided is a resin foam having a multitude of cells, the resin foam including: a polyvinyl acetal; and a plasticizer, the resin foam having an elongation strain of 300% or more and a 50% compression stress of 70 kPa or less.

Provided is a method for preparing an acrylic copolymer, and more specifically, provided are a method for preparing an acrylic copolymer including: i) adding and polymerizing 50 to 80 parts by weight of a methyl (meth)acrylate monomer and 10 to 49 parts by weight of a C2-C12 alkyl (meth)acrylate monomer, based on 100 parts by weight of a total monomer content, in a reactor (S1); and ii) adding and polymerizing 1 to 10 parts by weight of the methyl (meth)acrylate monomer, more than 0.01 part by weight to less than 1 part by weight of an acrylic cross-linking agent, and a surfactant, based on 100 parts by weight of the total monomer content, in which a polymerization conversion ratio of the polymerization in step (S1) is 70% to 90% (S2), an acrylic copolymer prepared therefrom, and a resin composition including the same.

A thermally expandable composition, including: (a) at least one polymer P, cross-linkable by a free-radical initiator; (b) at least one acrylate A; (c) at least one free-radical initiator; (d) at least one blowing agent; and (e) at least one surfactant, whereby the surfactant is a sulfonate salt. The thermally expandable composition is able to provide sufficient expansion behaviour when used in the form of a thin layer and is especially suitable for baffle and/or reinforcement elements.

The present invention provides a system, method, and apparatus for producing a dimensionally stable extruded board product for use in surface coverings. The board product may be a basalt casting powder-based product for use as a substrate for wall or other surface coverings or may be used as a core layer in a modular floor covering unit. The modular floor covering unit comprises multiple layers. The layers are a thin cut stone veneer layer, a core layer with a density similar to that of the thin cut stone veneer layer, and an optional magnetically receptive underlayment layer. Other layers or combinations of layers may also be used.

The present invention aims to provide a porous polyvinyl acetal object and a nonwoven polyvinyl acetal fabric each capable of exhibiting significantly high shock absorption. Provided is a porous polyvinyl acetal object having a large number of cells, including: a polyvinyl acetal; and a plasticizer, the porous object having an open cell ratio of 10% or higher, the porous object in the form of a sample with a size of 10 cm in length, 10 cm in width, and 4 mm in thickness having a coefficient of rebound (rebounding height/drop height) of 0.1 or lower in measurement of a rebounding height of a -inch SUS ball in conformity with JIS B 1501 dropped from a given drop height to the center of the sample placed on an iron plate with a size of 10 cm or more in length, 10 cm or more in width, and 1 cm in thickness.

A footwear article is provided. The footwear article includes a shoe sole. The shoe sole includes a crosslinked foam polyolefin elastomer having a density less than 0.88 g/cm.sup.3, the crosslinked foam polyolefin elastomer including: a silane-grafted polyolefin elastomer, a silane-grafted olefin block copolymer, a polyolefin elastomer (POE), an olefin block copolymer (OBC), or a combination thereof; an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer; a crosslinker; a condensation catalyst; and a foaming agent. The shoe sole exhibits a compression set of from about 1.0% to about 50.0%, as measured according to ASTM D 395 (48 hrs @ 50 C.).

Dual composition block copolymers made from conjugated diene and monovinyl aromatic monomers in batch organolithium initiated polymerization show advantageous performance in the production of crosslinked microcellular rubber compounds and pressure sensitive hot melt adhesives. The block copolymers are partially coupled molecules with a coupling agent linking inner monovinyl aromatic blocks. An un-coupled low molecular weight fraction has greater monovinyl aromatic repeat unit content than a coupled high molecular weight fraction. Crosslinked microcellular rubber articles made from the block copolymers exhibit lower density, smaller and more homogeneous cell size, higher softness and higher resiliency than prior art block copolymers. Rubber compounding of formulations comprising the block copolymers proceed at slightly lower torque and slightly lower temperature than with prior art block copolymers. Pressure sensitive hot melt adhesives formulated with the block copolymers are very well suited for labels, exhibiting higher tack and higher softening temperature than those made from prior art block copolymers.

A rubber composition capable of forming a foam such as a roller main body which has a low rubber hardness and is soft in a state in which an average cell diameter thereof is small is provided. The rubber composition includes NBR whose Mooney viscosity is 15 to 50 having a proportion being 10 parts by mass or more in 100 parts by mass of the total amount of rubber, epichlorohydrin rubber whose Mooney viscosity is 5 to 35 having a proportion being 10 parts by mass or more in 100 parts by mass of the total amount of rubber, and 10 parts by mass or less of carbon black and 7 parts by mass or less of a foaming agent with respect to 100 parts by mass of the total amount of rubber, and has a Mooney viscosity of 35 or less.

The present invention aims to provide a resin foam, a resin foam sheet, an adhesive tape, a member for a vehicle, and a member for a building that are capable of exhibiting very high sound insulation properties. Provided is a resin foam having a multitude of cells, the resin foam containing: a thermoplastic resin; and a plasticizer, the resin foam having a minimum loss factor of a primary anti-resonance frequency in the range of 20 C. to 60 C. of 0.05 or higher and a secondary anti-resonance frequency in the range of 20 C. to 60 C. of 300 to 800 Hz as measured by mechanical impedance measurement (MIM) in conformity with JIS G0602.