A house wrap for a building comprises a reinforcing drainage plane layer configured to face the outside of the building; a breathable, non-perforated barrier film bonded to the drainage plane layer; and at least one insulating layer including a perforated expanded low density polyethylene foam layer, wherein in the expanded low density polyethylene layer at least 80% of the blowing agents are dissipated from closed cells within the expanded low density polyethylene layer, forming evacuated closed cells whereby a partial vacuum is formed within the closed cells of the low density polyethylene layer.

The instant application discloses, among other things, ways to manufacture reduced density thermoplastics. A rapid foaming process which may create a polymer product by saturating thermoplastic sheet or preforms, heating, and then forming into final shape, is described. The polymer product may include an integral solid skin. This method may be utilized with any thermoplastic. The material handling, saturation methods, and end products are also described.

The process for forming closed cell expanded low density polyethylene foam includes the steps of: providing a mixture including low density polyethylene pellets and an effective amount of hydrocarbon scavenger additives or degassing agents, such as glycerides; adding a primary blowing agent comprising one of liquid propane, liquid butane, and combinations thereof, to the mixture and gasifying the blowing agent to expand the low density polyethylene; forming the expanded low density polyethylene into sheets, curing the expanded low density polyethylene until 80%, generally at least 99%, of the primary blowing agent is dissipated from cells within the expanded low density polyethylene forming evacuated closed cell low density polyethylene sheets.

Foamed articles including a foamed thermoplastic elastomeric material, methods of making the foamed articles, and methods for manufacturing articles of footwear, apparel, and athletic equipment incorporating such foamed articles are provided. In one aspect, a method for making a foamed article comprises placing an article comprising a foamable material and carbon dioxide in a vessel, maintaining the vessel at a first pressure and first temperature at which the carbon dioxide is a liquid and carbon dioxide is soluble in the foamable material, optionally exposing the infused article to a second temperature and second pressure, and subjecting the article to a third pressure and third temperature at which the infused carbon dioxide phase transitions to a gas, thereby expanding the foamable material into a foamed material and forming the foamed article.

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.

Foamed articles including a foamed thermoplastic elastomeric material, methods of making the foamed articles, and methods for manufacturing articles of footwear, apparel, and athletic equipment incorporating such foamed articles are provided. In one aspect, a method for making a foamed article comprises placing an article comprising a foamable material and carbon dioxide in a vessel, maintaining the vessel at a first pressure and first temperature at which the carbon dioxide is a liquid and carbon dioxide is soluble in the foamable material, optionally exposing the infused article to a second temperature and second pressure, and subjecting the article to a third pressure and third temperature at which the infused carbon dioxide phase transitions to a gas, thereby expanding the foamable material into a foamed material and forming the foamed article.

Foamed articles including a foamed thermoplastic elastomeric material, methods of making the foamed articles, and methods for manufacturing articles of footwear, apparel, and athletic equipment incorporating such foamed articles are provided. In one aspect, a method for making a foamed article comprises placing an article comprising a foamable material and carbon dioxide in a vessel, maintaining the vessel at an infusing pressure and infusing temperature at which the carbon dioxide is a liquid and carbon dioxide is soluble in the foamable material, optionally exposing the infused article to a first intermediary holding temperature and first intermediary holding pressure, and subjecting the article to an expanding pressure and expanding temperature at which the infused carbon dioxide phase transitions to a gas, thereby expanding the foamable material into a foamed material and forming the foamed article.

A bead foam is made of thermoplastic polyurethane, a styrene polymer, and an impact modifier. Moldings can be produced from the bead foam and processes for the production of the bead foams and moldings can be utilized. The moldings can be used for shoe intermediate soles, shoe insoles, shoe combisoles, cushioning elements for shoes, bicycle saddles, bicycle tires, damping elements, cushioning, mattresses, underlays, grips, protective films, in components in the automobile-interior sector or automobile-exterior sector, balls and sports equipment, or as floorcovering.

A foaming and dyeing integrated production method for a polymer material product includes steps of putting a polymer material preform into a foaming and dyeing kettle, and loading dye into a dyeing circulation module; gasifying CO.sub.2 and injecting the CO.sub.2 into the foaming and dyeing kettle, stopping pressurization when the CO.sub.2 reaches a supercritical state; performing a dyeing circulation process in which the CO.sub.2 in the supercritical state enters the dyeing circulation module and dissolves the dye in the dyeing circulation module, when the dyeing process is finished, injecting CO.sub.2 and/or N.sub.2 pressurized in the fluid pressurization delivery module and heated in the fluid heating module into the foaming and dyeing kettle, stopping pressurization and starting foaming operation when requirements of a foaming process are met; and when the foaming process is finished, taking out a foamed and dyed polymer material product in the foaming and dyeing kettle.

Membranes and methods of making and using the membranes are described herein. The membranes can include a foamed polymeric support and a plurality of inorganic particles disposed within the foamed polymeric support. The foamed polymeric support can contain a hydrophilic polymer such as polyethersulfone. The plurality of inorganic particles can include hydrophilic particles such as zeolite particles. In certain embodiments, the membrane can be used in humidifiers, such as those used in fuel cell systems. In some aspects, the membrane can be used for separating a fluid mixture comprising water. The membranes described herein are stable for high temperature applications.