The present invention relates to self-foaming hot melt adhesive compositions and methods of making and using the same. Self-foaming hot melt adhesive compositions are formed by admixing a dispersion concentrate including a chemical blowing agent and a compatible carrier (liquid or molten) with a molten base hot melt adhesive composition at a temperature below the decomposition temperature of the chemical blowing agent. The resolidified material is processed through a device that heats the material above the decomposition temperature of the chemical agent and cools it below such temperature before being dispensed. The device preferably includes sensors and a controller configured to prevent the material from accumulating an adverse thermal history during processing.

One object of the present invention is to provide a polyolefin resin foam which does not have a difference between the front side and the back side on the top and bottom surfaces which sandwich in the thickness direction the foam which is excellent in flexibility, buffer property, and heat insulation property despite its thinness, and which can be used suitably in the fields of architecture, electricity, electronics, vehicles, and the like as a variety of heat-resistant sealing materials. The surface hardness of the foam measured by a micro rubber hardness tester is 30° or more and 70° or less, and the centerline average roughness Ra75 of a first surface portion on one side of the foam in the thickness direction and of a second surface portion on the other side of the foam in the thickness direction is 5 μm or more and 20 μm or less.

The present invention relates to a thermally curable composition comprising: (a1) a solid rubber in an amount of 2.5% by mass or more, (a2) an olefinic double bond-containing polymer which is liquid or pasty at 22° C. in an amount of less than 5% by mass, (a3) a hydrocarbon resin in an amount of, in total with said component (a2), 5% by mass or more and 20% by mass or less, and (a4) a liquid polydiene in an amount of 15% by mass or more based on the total mass of the composition as a component (a); and at least one selected from the group consisting of the following (b1) to (b3): (b1) sulfur and one or more accelerator(s), (b2) peroxidic vulcanization system or disulfidic vulcanization system, and (b3) quinones, quinone dioximes or dinitrosobenzene, as a vulcanization system (b).

The present invention relates to a foam having a density of 0.036 g/cc or more and less than 0.133 g/cc, having an elongation (%) at break at 160° C. of 150% or more as measured in accordance with JIS K6251, a value of 7 or more obtained by multiplying the elongation (%) at break by a 100% modulus (MPa) at 160° C. as measured in accordance with JIS K6251, and a cross-linking degree of 30 to 50%.

The present invention provides a highly dispersible metallic acrylate composition containing specific content of a graphene, a flake graphite or a combination thereof as a thermally conductive powder, and thus has better stability and dispersivity, which leads to advantages of low adhesion to the metal surface and ease of mixing in resin. Moreover, the metallic acrylate composition can be applied to resin composition as an auxiliary crosslinking coagent for enhancing mechanical strength and good uniformity of cell dispersion in the foamed product, such that the foamed products can be used as architectural materials, materials of daily commodities, vehicle materials, damping and cushioning materials, packing materials, sport pad materials, or shoe materials.

Presented are manufacturing systems, methods, and devices for forming footwear using scrap or waste plastic materials. A method for manufacturing an article of footwear, such as an athletic shoe, begins with receiving a batch of recycled plastic, which may include thermoplastic elastomers or ethylene-vinyl acetate, and grinding the batch of recycled plastic material. The ground recycled material is processed, for example, by adding a foaming agent that activates at elevated temperatures. The processed recycled material is placed into the internal cavity of a final mold that is shaped like a segment of the footwear, such as a unitary sole structure. To form the footwear segment, the processed recycled material is heated past the threshold activation temperature of the foaming agent such that the foaming agent causes the recycled material to expand and fill the internal cavity of the final mold. The formed footwear segment is then extracted from the mold.

The present invention provides a polyolefin resin foam sheet having an area density of 5 g/m.sup.2 or more and 400 g/m.sup.2 or less, and having a time (t) required for a weight decrease from 90% by mass to 10% by mass, of 9 minutes or more, as measured by thermogravimetric analysis carried out at a heating rate of 10° C./min and a measurement temperature of 23° C. to 550° C. According to the present invention, a polyolefin resin foam sheet can be provided that has a high fire retardancy while maintaining a lightweight property.

A thermally expandable composition, including at least one polymer, cross-linkable by peroxide, at least one peroxide, preferably at least one antioxidant, at least one chemical blowing agent, and at least one activator, wherein the activator includes at least one compound selected from formula (I), ##STR00001##
wherein radicals R.sup.1 and R.sup.4 represent hydrogen atoms or monovalent alkyl radicals with 1 to 10 carbon atoms which optionally include oxygen atoms; R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 represent hydrogen atoms or monovalent alkyl radicals with 1 to 10 carbon atoms which optionally include oxygen atoms, nitrogen atoms, and/or aromatic moieties or R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 together form a divalent alkyl radical with 1 to 10 carbon atoms which optionally includes oxygen atoms, nitrogen atoms or aromatic moieties. The composition shows excellent properties in terms of expansion stability over a wide temperature range, can be expanded at temperatures below 150° C. and is suitable for baffle and/or reinforcement elements.

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 dual composition block copolymers are partially coupled with a coupling agent linking inner monovinyl aromatic blocks. Their un-coupled low molecular weight fraction has greater monovinyl aromatic repeating unit content than their coupled high molecular weight fraction. Crosslinked microcellular rubber articles made from the dual composition 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 dual composition 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 dual composition block copolymers are very well suited for labels, exhibiting higher tack and higher softening temperature than those made from prior art block copolymers.

The present disclosure relates to unsaturated polyolefins and processes for preparing the same. The present disclosure further relates to curable formulations comprising the unsaturated polyolefins that show improved crosslinking.