The invention relates to a process for generating a porous material having homogeneous, gas-containing inclusions in the micrometer and sub-micrometer range, and also to the material produced by such process.

The present invention relates to processes for producing melamine-formaldehyde foams, said processes comprising the steps of: a) producing an aqueous mixture M1) comprising 100 parts by weight of at least one melamine-formaldehyde precondensate, 2 to 4 parts by weight of at least one curative, 0.2 to 5 parts by weight of a surfactant mixture, 0.1 to 5 parts by weight of at least one salt of an inorganic acid or one salt of an organic carboxylic acid, 1 to 40 parts by weight of at least one blowing agent, 0 to 5 parts by weight of at least one dye and/or optical brightener, 0 to 20 parts by weight of one or more further additives, and 25 to 60 parts by weight of water, b) heating and foaming said mixture M1) using microwave radiation, c) crosslinking and curing the resulting foam using the curative and microwave radiation, d) drying the foam using microwave radiation, and e) annealing the dried foam using hot air, wherein as essential feature of the present invention said mixture M1) comprises a surfactant mixture comprising a mixture of 50 to 90 wt % of an anionic surfactant and 10 to 50 wt % of a nonionic surfactant, wherein the weight percentages are each based on the total weight of the surfactant mixture, and also to melamine-formaldehyde foams obtainable by the processes of the present invention and also to uses of said foams.

The present invention relates to processes for producing melamine-formaldehyde foams, said processes comprising the steps of: a) producing an aqueous mixture M1) comprising 100 parts by weight of at least one melamine-formaldehyde precondensate, 2 to 4 parts by weight of at least one curative, 0.2 to 5 parts by weight of a surfactant mixture, 0.1 to 5 parts by weight of at least one salt of an inorganic acid or one salt of an organic carboxylic acid, 1 to 40 parts by weight of at least one blowing agent, 0 to 5 parts by weight of at least one dye and/or optical brightener, 0 to 20 parts by weight of one or more further additives, and 25 to 60 parts by weight of water, b) heating and foaming said mixture M1) using microwave radiation, c) crosslinking and curing the resulting foam using the curative and microwave radiation, d) drying the foam using microwave radiation, and e) annealing the dried foam using hot air, wherein as essential feature of the present invention said mixture M1) comprises a surfactant mixture comprising a mixture of 50 to 90 wt % of an anionic surfactant and 10 to 50 wt % of a nonionic surfactant, wherein the weight percentages are each based on the total weight of the surfactant mixture, and also to melamine-formaldehyde foams obtainable by the processes of the present invention and also to uses of said foams.

A physically crosslinked, closed cell continuous foam structure derived from recycled metallized polyolefin material; polypropylene, polyethylene, or combinations thereof, a crosslinking agent, and a chemical blowing agent is obtained. The foam structure is obtained by extruding a structure comprising a foam composition, irradiating the extruded structure with ionizing radiation, and continuously foaming the irradiated structure.

In one embodiment, a method of forming an extruded board includes mixing a resin and a foaming agent, melting the mixed resin and foaming agent to form a uniformly colored extrudate, differentially expanding voids formed from the foaming agent within the uniformly colored extrudate by passing the uniformly colored extrudate through a breaker plate, forming a board with the differentially expanded voids and uniformly colored extrudate, and forming lightened portions on an outermost surface of the formed board.

In one embodiment, a method of forming an extruded board includes mixing a resin and a foaming agent, melting the mixed resin and foaming agent to form a uniformly colored extrudate, differentially expanding voids formed from the foaming agent within the uniformly colored extrudate by passing the uniformly colored extrudate through a breaker plate, forming a board with the differentially expanded voids and uniformly colored extrudate, and forming lightened portions on an outermost surface of the formed board.

The present invention is a transfer device for unloading a resin molded article from one mold provided with a resin injection unit, the resin molded article being unloaded by the transfer device from one mold provided with a resin injection unit having a member projecting between at least part of the resin molded article and another mold, wherein the resin injection unit has a member projecting between at least part of the resin molded article and the other mold, and the transfer device is equipped with a holding member for holding the resin molded article and a horizontal movement mechanism that causes the holding member holding the resin molded article to move in the horizontal direction to separate the resin molded article from the resin injection unit.

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided an extrusion foaming method for producing low-density extrusion foam from a thermoplastic cellulose-based starting material.

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided an extrusion foaming method for producing low-density extrusion foam from a thermoplastic cellulose-based starting material.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a laminate, wherein the laminate is obtained by integrally laminating an expanded beads molded article (a) composed of expanded beads A and having interconnected voids and an expanded beads molded article (b) composed of expanded particles B and having interconnected voids, the difference [P.sub.bP.sub.a] between the voidage (P.sub.a) of the expanded beads molded article (a) and the voidage (P.sub.b) of the expanded beads molded article (b) is 5% or more, and the expanded beads A and the expanded beads B satisfy the following (1) to (3): (1) a difference [d.sub.Bd.sub.A] between an average hole diameter (d.sub.A) of the through-holes of the expanded beads (A) and an average hole diameter (d.sub.B) of the through-holes of the expanded beads (B) is 0.3 mm or more and 2 mm or less; (2) the expanded beads (B) have an average outer diameter D.sub.B of 3.5 mm or more and 5 mm or less; (3) a difference [D.sub.BD.sub.A] between an average outer diameter D.sub.A of the expanded beads (A) and an average outer diameter D.sub.B of the expanded beads (B) is 0.3 mm or more and 2 mm or less.