Components for articles of footwear and athletic equipment are provided including a foam. A variety of foams and foam components and compositions for forming the foams are provided. In some aspects, the foams and components including the foams can have exceptionally high energy return while also having improved durability and softness. In particular, midsoles including the foams are provided for use in an article of footwear. Methods of making the compositions and foams are provided, as well as methods of making an article of footwear including one of the foam components. In some aspects, the foams and foam components can be made by injection molding or injection molding followed by compression molding.

A multilayer porous membrane comprising a porous membrane containing a polyolefin resin as a main component; and a porous layer containing an inorganic filler and a resin binder and laminated on at least one surface of the porous membrane; wherein the porous membrane has an average pore size d=0.035 to 0.060 m, a tortuosity .sub.a=1.1 to 1.7, and the number B of pores=100 to 500 pores/m.sup.2, which are calculated by a gas-liquid method, and the porous membrane has a membrane thickness L=5 to 22 m.

A multilayer porous membrane comprising: a porous membrane containing a polyolefin resin as a main component; and a porous layer containing an inorganic filler and a resin binder and laminated on at least one surface of the porous membrane; wherein the porous membrane has an average pore size d=0.035 to 0.060 m, a tortuosity .sub.a=1.1 to 1.7, and the number B of pores=100 to 500 pores/m.sup.2, which are calculated by a gas-liquid method, and the porous membrane has a membrane thickness L=5 to 22 m.

A multilayer porous membrane comprising a porous membrane containing a polyolefin resin as a main component; and a porous layer containing an inorganic filler and a resin binder and laminated on at least one surface of the porous membrane; wherein the porous membrane has an average pore size d=0.035 to 0.060 m, a tortuosity .sub.a=1.1 to 1.7, and the number B of pores=100 to 500 pores/m.sup.2, which are calculated by a gas-liquid method, and the porous membrane has a membrane thickness L=5 to 22 m.

The invention relates to an expandable bead comprising a) a polyolefin selected from polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and mixtures thereof and b) thermoplastic microspheres encapsulating a blowing agent.

A gas barrier multilayer film includes a film substrate, a layer formed on at least one surface of the film substrate and made of an inorganic compound, and a gas barrier layer formed on the layer made of the inorganic compound and formed of a mixture, which contains an acrylic acid polymer made of poly(meth)acrylic acid or a partially neutralized product thereof wherein a degree of neutralization of the poly(meth)acrylic acid with zinc is not larger than about 25 mol %, a sugar or starch, and a hypophosphite wherein the hypophosphite is present at about 1 mass % to about 15 mass % of a total solid content of the mixture.

The present invention provides expanded polylactic acid resin beads, in which each bead is composed of a core layer that is in an expanded state and contains a crystalline polylactic acid resin, and a coating layer that coats the core layer and contains a mixed resin of an amorphous polylactic acid resin and a crystalline polyolefin resin, wherein the content of the crystalline polyolefin resin in the coating layer is 3% by weight or more and less than 50% by weight. The expanded polylactic acid resin beads can stably produce a molded article of expanded polylactic acid resin beads excellent in fusibility of the expanded polylactic acid resin beads therein and also excellent in solvent resistance.

A foamable composition comprising from 60 to 99.88% by weight (% wt.) of at least one poly(aryl ether sulfone), from 0.10 to 10.00% by weight (% wt.) of at least one olefinic polymer, from 0.01 to 5.00% by weight (% wt.) of at least one tetrazole compound and from 0.01 to 2.50% by weight (% wt.) of at least one additive selected from the group of titanium dioxide (Ti02), clays, talc, silicates, silica, aluminates, barites, titanates, borates, nitrides, carbon-based materials or combinations thereof, all % wt. are relative to the total weight of the composition (C). Foam materials made from said foamable compositions and articles made from said foam materials.

The present invention relates to a method for preparing a granular plastic additive comprising the steps of a) providing at least one additive solution which comprises a plastic additive and a solvent, b) optionally mixing the additive solutions, c) thin film evaporation of the additive solution to produce a concentrated additive, d) agitation of the concentrated additive under vacuum to produce a hot melt, e) mixing a molten carrier polymer with the concentrated additive during the extrusion, and f) cooling and forming the hot melt comprising the plastic additive and the carrier polymer to produce the granular plastic additive.

The invention also relates to the granular plastic additive obtainable by the method.

Thin polymer sheets and used thereof are described. A polymer sheet can include greater than 90 wt. % of a single-site catalyzed polyolefin (PO) and have a thickness of at least 0.0254 cm. The sheet can be used to produce molded articles.