The present invention relates to a cross-linked polyolefin resin foam obtained by cross-linking and foaming a polyolefin resin composition containing at least a polyolefin resin, wherein the cross-linked polyolefin resin foam has a total light transmittance of 45% or more at the thickness of 0.3 mm or more and less than 1.0 mm, and the cross-linked polyolefin resin foam has a total light transmittance of 30% or more at the thickness of 1.0 mm or more and 5.0 mm or less.

The present invention provides a cross-linked polyolefin resin foam having excellent light transmittance.

The invention relates to a floor or wall panel and a method for producing such panel. The panel according to the invention comprises a core layer comprising at least one composite material, said composite material comprising at least one inorganic material, and at least one polymeric binder, wherein a weight ratio of the inorganic material to the polymeric binder is at least 2.4:1. The core layer further comprises an additive which is configured to improve the properties of the core layer.

A method of microcellular foam molding an article includes feeding plastic granules to a hopper; supplying a supercritical fluid (SCF) to the hopper to effuse through the plastic granules; conveying the effused plastic granules to a buffer tank; and conveying the effused plastic granules in the buffer tank to a mold of an injection molding machine to perform foam molding on the effused plastic granules to produce a foamed article. In a second embodiment, the injection molding machine is replaced by an extrusion press.

Provided is a damping pad with low compression set, which is prepared by a method comprising the following steps: (1) providing a polymer comprising a thermoplastic ether ester elastomer, in which the polymer material has specific melt flow index, Shore D hardness, tensile modulus, density, and elongation at break; (2) melting the polymer material to obtain a molten polymer material; (3) adding nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide into the molten polymer to obtain a mixture; (4) turning the mixture into a supercritical state and compounding the mixture, to obtain a supercritical fluid blend; and (5) injecting and molding the supercritical fluid blend to obtain the damping pad with low compression set which has compression set of 40% or less, deceleration value of 20 or less, and rebound resilience of 50% or more.

Provided is a damping pad with low compression set, which is prepared by a method comprising the following steps: (1) providing a polymer comprising a thermoplastic ether ester elastomer, in which the polymer material has specific melt flow index, Shore D hardness, tensile modulus, density, and elongation at break; (2) melting the polymer material to obtain a molten polymer material; (3) adding nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide into the molten polymer to obtain a mixture; (4) turning the mixture into a supercritical state and compounding the mixture, to obtain a supercritical fluid blend; and (5) injecting and molding the supercritical fluid blend to obtain the damping pad with low compression set which has compression set of 40% or less, deceleration value of 20 or less, and rebound resilience of 50% or more.

A method for producing molded foam articles that molds molded foam articles continuously, the method comprising continuously repeating the following step 1, step 2, step 3 and step 4 in this order; wherein step 1 comprises melting a resin composition that includes a liquid crystal polyester; step 2 comprises introducing, with an introduction device, a supercritical fluid that is unreactive, in a supercritical state, with the liquid crystal polyester, and is a gas at normal temperature and normal pressure, into the resin composition in an amount of at least 0.1 parts by mass but not more than 0.3 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the liquid crystal polyester, and then melt-kneading the resultant mixture; step 3 comprises injecting the melt-kneaded resin composition containing the supercritical fluid into a mold; and step 4 comprises conducting foaming by lowering at least one of the pressure and the temperature of the supercritical fluid contained in the resin composition to a value below the critical point of the supercritical fluid, thereby producing a molded foam article. This liquid crystal polyester has a melt tension at a temperature 20° C. higher than the flow start temperature of at least 5 mN but not more than 100 mN.

The present invention provides a polymer composition for manufacturing a foam, the polymer composition comprising a vinyl aromatic based copolymer and a processing aid, wherein the amount of the processing aid in the total weight of the polymer composition is equal to or more than 5 wt % and equal to or less than 75 wt %; and the polymer composition does not comprise ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene-butyl acrylate copolymer, ethylene-α-olefin copolymer, homopolymer and copolymer of polyethylene, homopolymer and copolymer of polypropylene, homopolymer and copolymer of polybutene and olefin-based ionic polymer. The present invention also provides the foam and the method for forming the same.

Methods for manufacturing articles of footwear are provided. In various aspects, the methods comprise utilizing additive manufacturing methods with foam particles. In some aspects, the additive manufacturing methods comprise increasing the temperature of a plurality of foam particles with actinic radiation under conditions effective to fuse a portion of the plurality of foam particles comprising one or more thermoplastic elastomers. Increasing the temperature of the foam particles can be carried out for one or multiple iterations. The disclosed methods can be used to manufacturer articles with sub-regions that exhibit differing degrees of fusion between the foam particles, thereby resulting in sub-regions with different properties such as density, resilience, and/or flexural modulus. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

The present invention is directed to compositions comprising polylactone melt, extrudate, and processes for producing a foam. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the processes comprise: heating a polylactone composition containing a biobased polylactone in a reaction vessel; and subjecting the polylactone composition to molding to give a foamed structure.

A method for producing a foam-molded shoe component includes the steps of: providing a polymer granulate; pre-treating the polymer granulate including binding to or in the polymer granulate a physical propellant in an autoclave at a first pressure and a first temperature; and foaming the pre-treated polymer granulate including melting the polymer granulate to produce a molten polymer composition, and foaming the molten polymer composition as a result of the expansion of the physical propellant.