The invention is directed to a thermally expandable composition comprising at least one solid rubber, at least on tackifying resin, a vulcanization system, and a thermally expandable graphite. The invention is also directed to a welding sealer tape comprising a substrate layer composed of the thermally expandable composition, to a method for providing sealing, structural adhesion, baffling, or combination thereof to a structure of a manufactured article, to a baffle and/or reinforcing element comprising the thermally expandable composition, to a method for sealing, baffling and/or reinforcing a cavity or a hollow structure, and to use of a thermally expandable graphite as a blowing agent in a thermally expandable material.

A method of combining rubbers and plastics when injection molding, and compositions usable in injection molding, are shown and described. Comminuted rubber from waste tires and waste plastics including any of high density polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polypropylene are combined and heated to melt at least the plastics. In one optional approach, both are melted. Plastics comprise from twenty to eighty percent by weight of the mixture, with rubber accounting for the balance. The mixture may be fortified with bonding, compatibilizing, and strengthening agents. The compositions may be cooled and pelletized for immediate use in injection operations.

Pellet-stable olefinic copolymer bimodal rubber is made using parallel reactors, with one reactor synthesizing higher molecular weight (MW) rubber with dual catalysts, with an improved molecular weight split ratio and an improved composition distribution of the moderate and ultra-high MW components, while another reactor synthesizes random isotactic polypropylene copolymer (RCP). The effluents are reactor-blended and result in pellet-stable bimodal rubber (P-SBR), which may be pelletized. When making thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs) with P-SBR, the need to granulate rubber bales and subsequently use talc, clay, or other anti-agglomeration agents to prevent granulated rubber crumbs from agglomerating are eliminated. TPVs made with P-SBR have vulcanized rubber particles that are smaller and more uniform in size, resulting in TPVs with higher particle counts and more thermoplastic “ligaments” between the particles, with such ligaments being made stronger by the added RCP. Such thus-produced TPVs have a lower hysteresis and flexural modulus, and better elastic properties.

A resin sheet includes a porous structure. The porous structure is configured to adjust transmission of a millimeter wave. The porous structure has a relative permittivity varying in stages in a thickness direction of the resin sheet from a plane on which the millimeter wave is incident, the relative permittivity varying such that a difference between average relative permittivities in two adjacent layer portions is a predetermined value or less, the layer portions each having a particular thickness smaller than a wavelength of the millimeter wave. The porous structure has, as pores, only pores each having a pore diameter equal to or less than 10% of the wavelength of the millimeter wave.

Provided is a method for dyeing a polymer material with an aqueous pigment composition containing at least one pigment dispersed therein, wherein the polymer material is a blend including a first polymer composition and a second polymer composition which is compatible with the first polymer composition, which second polymer composition includes a binding agent for the at least one pigment. The method includes the steps of heating the polymer material to an activation temperature below the softening temperature of the polymer material, contacting the polymer material with the aqueous pigment composition at a contact temperature for a period of time sufficient to form a pigmented polymer material, subjecting the pigmented polymer material to a fixation step to fixate the at least one pigment therein by cooling the pigmented polymer material to a fixation temperature which is lower than the temperature at which contacting of the polymer material with the aqueous pigment composition is carried out.

A molded article of polyolefin-based resin expanded beads having excellent appearance and further suppressed color unevenness is provided.

Polyolefin-based resin expanded beads obtained by expanding polyolefin-based resin particles including one or two or more metal borates selected from zinc borate and magnesium borate, wherein the particles of the metal borate has an arithmetic average particle diameter based on the number of 1 μm or more, and a number rate of the particles of the metal borate having a particle diameter of 5 μm or more is 20% or less. A method for producing polyolefin-based resin expanded beads by releasing expandable polyolefin-based resin particles containing one or two or more metal borates selected from zinc borate and magnesium borate and a physical blowing agent dispersed in an aqueous medium in a closed vessel together with the aqueous medium from the closed vessel to a low pressure region than an inside of the closed vessel to expand the expandable polyolefin-based resin particles, the method comprising: using a metal borate having an arithmetic average particle diameter based on the number of 1 μm or more and a number rate of the particles having a particle diameter of 5 μm or more of 20% or less as the metal borate.

Embodiments are directed to polymer compositions and foams including polymer compositions. Embodiments of the polymer composition may include at least 55 wt. %, based on the total weight of the polymer composition, of a polyolefin elastomer having an ethylene content of from greater than 50 wt. % to less than 80 wt. % and a cross-linkable blend comprising: (i) from 1 wt. % to 99 wt. %, based on the total weight of the cross-linkable blend, of an E/X/Y polymer and (ii) from 1 wt. % to 99 wt. %, based on the total weight of the cross-linkable blend, of an epoxycontaining polymer.

A microporous polyolefin (PO) foamed material is provided, which is prepared from a PO composition through a foaming process, where the PO composition includes a PO and an additive composition, and with the PO composition as 100 parts by mass, the additive composition accounts for 3 to 20 parts by mass; the additive composition includes a functional additive A; the functional additive A has a molecular formula of R—(OCH.sub.2CH.sub.2).sub.xOH, where R is an aralkyl group, a straight alkyl chain, or a branched alkyl chain that has 5 to 60 carbon atoms, and x is 1 to 20; and an absolute value of a solubility parameter difference between the PO and the functional additive A is greater than or equal to 1 (J/cm.sup.3).sup.1/2 and less than or equal to 5 (J/cm.sup.3).sup.1/2 . When the method is used for PO foaming, the foaming efficiency is greatly improved, thereby reducing a production cost.

A method of analyzing a polymer resin comprising: providing a polymer resin sample having two or more polymer components; subjecting the sample to aTREF analysis to yield aTREF elution trace by contacting the sample with aTREF solvent to form sample solution; introducing sample solution into aTREF column and allowing elution of polymer components at different elution rates along the column; eluting from the aTREF column an aTREF eluent comprising the polymer components eluting at different rates; and subjecting the aTREF eluent to IR detection to yield the aTREF elution trace; identifying the components of the sample to yield identified components by comparing the elution trace with an identification library that comprises a plurality of known polymer aTREF elution traces correlated with known polymer components characterized by identifying parameters (density, SCB, crystallization temperature, MI, HLMI, MWD); and quantifying each of the identified components to yield quantified polymer components via chemometric analysis.

A roofing membrane and a method of making the same is provided. The roofing membrane includes a top layer having a flame retardant and a first silane-crosslinked polyolefin elastomer with a density less than 0.90 g/cm.sup.3; a scrim layer; and a bottom layer having a flame retardant and a second silane-crosslinked polyolefin elastomer with a density less than 0.90 g/cm.sup.3. The top and bottom layers of the roofing membrane both exhibit a compression set of from about 5.0% to about 35.0%, as measured according to ASTM D 395 (22 hrs @ 70° C.).