Engineered Structural Foam
One of the crucial factors for the designer is the stiffness-to-weight ratio of relatively large products. TEP’s Engineered Structural Foam (ESF) division meets this criterion and also gives the designer a process which meets many other demands.
Engineered structural foam is a low pressure thermoplastic injection moulding process using a wide range of thermoplastic polymers. The moulding process utilizes a molten thermoplastic polymer which is mixed with either a gas or a chemical blowing agent. The mixture is then injected under low pressure into a mould tool where the blowing agent creates a gas and expands filling the mould tool with foam. As the foam fills the mould tool,a compact outer skin is formed at a density of (1.1g/cc) whilst leaving the inner structurally foamed at a density of (0.4g/cc).