Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Mater. Sci. Ed. Apr.

2013 373

DOI 10.1007/s11595-013-0698-1

Development and Application of Expanded

Polypropylene Foam

YU Liping1, ZHU Qiqiang2*, YU Jiaying3

(1.Department of Physical Education, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China; 2.Wuhan Lingyun Building Decoration Co. Ltd., Wuhan
430003, China; 3.Jianghan University, School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan 430003, China)

Abstract: The products of expanded polypropylene(EPP) is widely explored and used. the PP
modification methods, the preparation methods of EPP and the molding technology of EPP were reviewed. The
application of EPP in the field of sporting equipment were also discussed. This paper may provide theoretical
foundation for the applications and developments of EPP.
Key words: polypropylene; foam; application

1 Introduction material with good general chemical resistance, and

Polymeric foams, such as polystyrene (PS),
polyethylene (PE) and polyurethane (PU), are widely
used because of their lower cost per volume unit, low
thermal conductivity, high specific strength, excellent
heat and sound insulation performance, great energy
absorption property, compared to conventional plastic
materials [1-4]. However, the shortage of mechanical
properties, thermal properties, economic performance
and environmental performance limit the further
development of these expanded plastic[5,6]. Expanded
polypropylene foam (EPP) is one of the most globally
produced foamed polymers, which was developed
by JSP Company after the PS foam. EPP not only
has the great properties of PP, but also has its own
characteristics[7, 8]. The available work temperature of
PS foam is below 80 ℃, and the PE is 70-80 ℃, but the
EPP is below 130 ℃. EPP also has good mechanical
properties, and a homogeneous and closed cell structure
due to a stable thermal conductivity, even in moist
environments. Therefore, EPP can act as a senior heat
preservation material. It is a moderately oil-resistant
©Wuhan University of Technology and SpringerVerlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
(Received: Apr.12, 2012;Accepted:Dec.11, 2012)
YU Liping(俞丽萍): Assoc. Prof.; E-mail: ylpaaa@yahoo.com.cn
*Corresponding author:ZHU Qiqiang(朱其锵): E-mail: stupid110@163.
com
Funded by the Development Strategy Project of Hubei (20120014)
burns in the absence of non-toxic gas release compared
to PS foams. It can retrieve and utilize, and the
degradation performance is better than PS foams and
PE foams.
However, PP resin has a high crystallinity and low
melt viscosity, which is difficult to control, compared
to that of amorphous polymer foams, since the gas does
not dissolve in the crystallites, and the polymer-gas
solution formed during the microcellular processing is
nonuniform. Additionally, PP has weak melt strength,
and the melt strength is very sensitive to the change of
temperature. Furthermore, neat PP generally is a linear
polyolefin, and such polymers do not demonstrate high
strain hardening, which is required to withstand the
stretching force experienced during the latter stages of
bubble growth. Therefore, it is very difficult to produce
foams with uniform and fine cellular structure, high
foaming ratios, and low open-cell content.
2 Modification methods of PP
For ordinary PP, when the temperature is higher
than the melting temperature, the melt strength and the
melt viscosity decrease quickly, so the melt has not
enough strength to retain foaming gas and will lead to
a rupture of the cell walls under the elongational forces
occurring during cell growth. So, the key to improving
the foaming properties of PP is the preparation of high
374 Vol.28 No.2 YU Liping et al:Development and Application of Expanded Polypropylene...
melt strength PP (HMSPP). Compared with PP, HMSPP
exhibits remarkable melt strength and long-chain
branch structure, which change the strain softening
characteristics of PP and make the viscosity increase
exponentially with the increasing time. Thus, HMSPP
has an obvious strain hardening behavior, which plays
an important role in preventing the growing bubbles
from collapse.
2.1 Direct synthesis or modification of long-
chain branch PP (LCB-PP)
HMSPP was first developed and industrialized
produced by Montell Company, and the produced Pro-
faxPF-814 resin displays as higher as 9 times melt
strength than conventional linear PP (the properties
are shown in Table 1). Then, some other companies
developed a large amount of HMSPP, and it has
been widely used in these areas. With the progress
of research work on HMSPP, the main and efficient
method is to incorporate long-chain (LCB) by chemical
modification. The creation of long-chain branching
generally leads to improvement of melt strength,
which in turn may be translated into process ability
improvement for specific applications in which melt
strength plays an important role. Many researches
have carried out investigation on the effect of LCB on
foamability of PP.
Zheng et al introduced long chain branches (LCB)
on commercial polypropylene. They found that the
foamability of LCB PPs was improved significantly;
the LCB PPs exhibited enhanced elastic response at
low frequencies under dynamic shear and showed
expected strain hardening behaviors under uniaxial
extensional flow[9]. Stadlbauer M and Ernst E have used
a multi-branched polypropylene, which produced in
the presence of a metallocene catalyst[10]. Hoog SM and
Seo Y observed a long-chain polypropylene terpolymer
made by a Ziegler-Natta Catalyst[11]. Radiation-induced
long-chain branching can be done by using ionizing
radiation[12]. In the late 1980 s and early 1990s, Himont
developed ‘‘gel-free’’ HMSPP for extrusion coating by
radiation-induced long-chain branching and Bradley
and Phillips reported that the improvement of the melt
strength enabled foaming using these novel high melt
strength PPs[13].
2.2 Crosslinking modification of PP
Crosslinking is an important way to improve
the melt strength, foaming temperature range and the
thermal and chemical resistance of PP. Under some
conditions, some PP chain crosslinked with the other
branches and formed three-dimensional or space
network structure. There are three main crosslinking
methods: radiation crosslinking, peroxide or chemical
crosslinking, and silane crosslinking.
Radiation crosslinking by means of electron beam
(EB) can be done without heating and in the absence
of vulcanization agents. The free radicals or molecular
ions can react by connecting the polymer chains
directly or initiating grafting reactions[14].
Generally, irradiation of crosslinking PP is under
vacuum condition to reduce the oxidative degradation
in the crosslinking process. PP radiation first produces
alkyl radical, and then changes to olefinic free radicals
after a certain time. Suljovrujic investigated the
radiation-induced behavior of iPP, oriented via solid-
state stretching at an elevated temperature[15]. Gao et
al studied the radiation crosslinking and branching
behavior of homopolypropylene (HPP), impact
copolypropylene (iPP), and random copolypropylene
(RPP) and used the C-P equation for some parameter
calculations[16]. They found iPP is the best material
for radiation branching and radiation crosslinking of
PP among the samples of HPP, iPP, and RPP. Muñoz-
Muñoz F et al focused on the effect of gamma-ray
radiation conditions on the stimuli-responsiveness and
drug-eluting performance of PP substrates grafted with
interpenetrating networks of N-isopropylacrylamide
(NIPAAm) and acrylic acid (AAc)[17]. Rajeshbabu R
et al introduced a thermoplastic vulcanizates based
on 50/50 composition of PP/EOC blend, which were
prepared by electron induced reactive processing[18].
The primary factor was found to be the predominance
of oxidative degradation during electron induced
reactive processing in air atmosphere.
However, the radiation crosslinking of rubbers
 Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Mater. Sci. Ed.
was not used in larger technical applications
because of the high cost of irradiation to bring about
vulcanization, but could become an industrial process
when the radiation dose decreased with the use of some
sensitizers[14].
Chemical crosslinking modification of PP
has attracted many attentions in recent years. The
crosslinking reaction can improve the foaming
property and the mechanical properties of PP, while the
degradation reaction can reduce the foaming property
and mechanical properties. Babu RR discussed
dynamic viscoelastic properties of the dynamically
cross-linked blends of polypropylene (PP) and ethylene
octene copolymer (EOC), which was performed by
coagent-assisted peroxide cross-linking system [19].
Additionally, they also investigated triallyl cyanurate
(TAC), trimethylol propane triacrylate (TMPTA) and N,
N’-m-phenylene dimaleimide (MPDM) on the thermal
and rheological properties of thermoplastic vulcanizates
based on PP/EOC[20]. It can be concluded that, addition
of MPDM in peroxide cured PP/EOC blends turn out
to give comaptibilized dynamic vulcanizates. Okura T
et al investigated a PP resin graft-copolymerized with
an aromatic vinyl monomer (styrene, methylstyrene
or divinylbenzene)[21, 22]. The enlongtional viscosity
of the cross-linked PP in the molten state drastically
increases with increase of an amount of strain and
the molecular weight distribution was 3 - 3.5. Thus,
the chemical crosslinking of PP must introduce some
peroxide auxiliary agents. But for high crystallinity PP,
there is a methylene in the main chain, which causes
the instability of the macromolecular radicals on the
tertiary carbon atom of PP molecular chain. These
significant problems limit the application of chemical
crosslinking PP.
The silane cross-linking technique offers
technological advantages over radiation and peroxide-
cross-linking technique and improves many useful
properties of cross-linked polymers. Silane-grafting
and water-crosslinking of polyolefins have various
advantages, such as easy processing, low capital
investment, and favorable properties in the processed
materials[23]. During the process, the silane is grafted
onto the backbones of polyolefins via free radicals.
The silane-grafted polymers are then hydrolyzed and
crosslinked by forming Si–O–Si linkages[24, 25].
Liu NC et al studied the melt grafting of
unsaturated silanes onto PP in a Haake Rheocord RC90
batch mixer and curing in hot water[26]. Introduction
of styrene into the grafting system greatly improved
Apr.2013 375
the gel percentage of cross-linked PP and reduced
the degradation of PP during grafting. Processing
temperature and initial particle size of PP also had
influences on both gel percentages and degradation
of PP. Yang S et al synthesized a HMPSS with
partially cross-linking, modified from a normal
isotactic polypropylene (iPP) [27] . Wang Z et al
studied a silane crosslinking and intumescent flame
retardation of polypropylene/ethylene-propylene-diene
copolymer (PP/EPDM) elastomers [25]. It was found
that silane grafting and crosslinking influenced the
flame retardancy, mechanical properties and thermal
decomposition behavior of the composites.
2.3 Blending modification of PP
The blending modified PP is an effective
and simple way to improve the performance of PP
foaming system. In the blending process, it is often
add elastomer or low melting copolymer to reduce
the melting point and rigid of PP, and improve the
melt viscosity and melt strength, so that improve the
foaming process of PP. Typical PP blends materials
used for microcellular foaming mainly include PP/PE
blends, PP/Rubber blends and PP/PS blends.
Research expected PE and PP to be incompatible
in the solid state, unless interaction has taken place
and resulted in cocrystallization or intimate epitaxial
growth. However, polyethylene and polypropylene
form complex binary blends. The spherulite size, the
lamellar thickness, the interlamellar amorphous zone,
the perfection of the crystallites, the final crystallinity,
and the possibility of epitaxial crystallization are
additional factors to be considered that will affect
the final morphology and properties of the blends[28].
Liu et al analyzed the multifractal properties of the
fracture surfaces of foamed PP/PE blends at different
temperatures[29]. Zhang et al investigated the dynamic
shear in the axial direction of a rotor vertically
superposed on the melt flow direction, and its effects
on the shear rate and melt strength of PP/High-Density
Polyethylene (HDPE)[30].
Because rubber has excellent elasticity and
toughness, great attentions have been paid to PP
modified with rubber materials since the 1970s. The
studies for PP/rubber blends are generally divided
into four areas[31]: the relationship between structure
and property; the toughening effects of the content,
shape, size, and distribution of rubber fillers and the
dispersion of the particles in the matrix; the influence
of interfacial adhesion and compatibility between
the matrix and fillers; and the effects of processing
376 Vol.28 No.2 YU Liping et al:Development and Application of Expanded Polypropylene...
and testing conditions on toughening. Chen et al
prepared a PP/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer
(EPDM) blends with zinc dimethacrylate (ZDMA) via
peroxide dynamic vulcanization and investigated the
mixing process, morphology, rheological properties,
mechanical properties, and crystalline property [32,33].
Brostow W et al studied the effect of different types of
peroxides on mechanical and tribological behavior of
vulcanized PP/EPDM blends[34].
The semicrystalline PP is difficult to foam
mainly due to its lower melt strength and inherently
poor cell nucleation behavior. The PP/PS blend is a
typical immiscible polymer blend, in which, the PP is
semicrystalline phase and the PS is amorphous phase.
Huang et al blended immiscible PP/PS blends with
10wt%-70wt% PS by using supercritical carbon dioxide
(Sc-CO2) as the physical foaming agent[35]. It was found
all PP/PS blends show much dramatically improved
foam ability than the PP, and largely decreased cell size
and hence increased cell density than the PS.
2.4 Other methods for PP modification
The polymer–wood fibre composites utilize wood
fibre as a reinforcing filler in the polymer matrix and
are known to be advantageous over the neat polymers
in terms of the materials cost and some mechanical
properties such as stiffness and strength. These wood
fibre composites are microcellular processed to create
a new class of materials with unique properties.
Recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of
developing microcellular structures in PP/Wood fibre
composites[36-38].
Ding J et al has prepared microcellular foam PP/
Modified nano calcium carbonate composites[39]. The
investigation showed that uniform cells of PP foams
were achieved only at a temperature of 154 ℃. Also,
the low pressure of 20 MPa led to very small cells and
a low cell density. The competition between the cell
growth and cell nucleation played important role in the
foam density and were directly related to the foaming
temperature. Decreasing the infiltration temperature
depressed the initial foaming temperature, and this
resulted in significantly larger cells and a lower cell
density.
Zheng WG et al researched the foaming behaviors
of linear PP and PP/clay nanocomposites blown
with supercritical CO 2[40]. The experiments showed
that the nano-particles clay had a positive impact on
improving the cell morphology, the cell density and
the expansion ratio of the linear PP foams. Dukhann et
al formed a type of interpenetrating phase composites
by impregnating 90%-porous open-cell aluminum
foam with polypropylene through an injection molding
process[41].
3 The preparation method of EPP
Microcellular foaming is a complex process, for
many variables simultaneously influence the rheology
and microstructure of the foam product. As a new
typical material, many researches have been done to
explore the preparation of EEP. Bubble growth is one
of the most important stages of the foaming process
because of its close relationship with the ultimate
bubble size and the microstructure. In present, the most
common EPP foaming methods are physical foaming
method and chemical foaming method.
3.1 Physical foaming method
The physical foaming can divide into inert
gas foaming, expandable bead foaming and hollow
spheres foaming. Generally, physical foaming agents
such as CO 2, N 2, butane, isobutene, cyclopentane
and isopentane are applied in the foaming process of
EPP. CO 2 is the most common used foaming agent
in the foaming process of EPP. Foaming EPP with
supercritical carbon dioxide (Sc-CO 2) agent have
attracted many interests because of its adjustable
solvent strength, ability to plasticize many polymers,
and ability to enhance diffusion rates[1, 35, 42, 43]. Park C
P has used one or more volatile organic agents for the
extruded open-cell propylene polymer foam[44]. Yu C
et al evaluated the foamability of PP with N2 as the
blowing agent[45].
3.2 Chemical foaming method
The chemical foaming method is described as
adding the chemical foaming agents into the resin, then
keeping at certain temperature and pressure so that the
chemical foaming agents decompose, liberating the gas
for foaming. So choosing the proper chemical agent
is necessary for the foaming process. The chemical
foaming agent can divide to inorganic foaming agent
and organic foaming agent. The inorganic foaming
agents usually are sodium bicarbonate, ammonium
bicarbonate etc. Musgrave M et al invented an EPP
with improved cell structure by chemical agent[46].
The sodium carbonate will react with the ambient
moisture and sometimes leave a whitish residue on the
processing equipment, which limits its application.
The organic foaming agents are diversity. They should
meet the following requirements: the gas release
time is short and the release speed is adjustable;
Journal of Wuhan University of Technology-Mater. Sci. Ed.
the decomposition temperature is adjustable; the
particles size are small and homogeneous, and easy to
disperse; with large foaming capacity, high reaction
rate; with little exothermic quantity as decompose;
with nonpoisonous and harmless; with non-pollutant
to foaming PP. Usually, the organic foaming agents
contain azo-compound, urea derivative and hydrazide
type compounds. Decomposition temperature and
gas evolution is the most important two indicators for
chemical foaming agent. Decomposition temperature
determines its applicable scope, and limited foaming
conditions, while gas evolution is the important
indicators for measuring foaming efficiency of
chemical foaming agent. The melt of PP is 164-170 ℃,
so the decomposition temperature of chemical agents
must range in 164-170 ℃. The common chemical
agents as shown in Table 2.
4 The molding technology of EPP
The most commonly investigated and used
molding technologies of EPP include extruding method
and injection molding method.
The extruder is composed of one or two rotating
Apr.2013 377
Archimedes screws fitted in a barrel in order to
progressively increase the pressure and push forward
the ingredients through a die where expansion takes
place. Xu Z et al researched a direct extrusion foaming
process of low-density PP in a typical single-screw
extruder[48]. They find three methods can establish high
backpressure in the extruder die and this is beneficial
to the foaming extrusion: increasing the screw speed,
decreasing the die temperature, and optimizing the
design of the die structures.
The injection molding also named as sandwich
injection molding is one of the recently developed
innovative techniques in molding process. In an
injection-molding process, two polymers are laminated
together by comprising sequential or concurrent
injection of a skin material and a dissimilar but
compatible core material so that the core material
is embedded with the solidified layers of the skin
material [49] . Ishikawa T observed the PP foaming
behaviors in the core-back injection molding and
found batch pressure quench foaming could be useful
to analyze and understand the foaming behavior of the
core -back foam injection molding[50,51].
378 Vol.28 No.2 YU Liping et al:Development and Application of Expanded Polypropylene...
5 The application of EPP in the
field of exercise equipment
PS foam plastics was once the most widely used
foam plastic products used in exercise equipment,
but due to the huge volume of waste, hardness
to decompose and recycle, especially the “White
Pollution” for the environment, it is forbidden to
manufacture and use PS foam plastics. In the foaming
process of PU foamed sheet, it can produce isocyanate
residue, which is harmful to human body. On the other
hand, the PU foamed production is unrecyclable. PE
foam plastic exhibits excellent chemically amplified
resist, vibration absorption performance, non-toxic
and recyclable, but PE foam have the shortages of low
mechanical property, low thermostability and hard to
degrade, which limit their application. PP have been
considered as a substitute for other thermoplastic
foams, due to its outstanding properties such as
excellent temperature stability and heat resistant
properties, high strength and rigidity, good impact
strength, low material cost.
EPP is an ideal material for lifesaving equipments,
such as life jacket, buoy, surfboard, et al. Ggymnastic
blanket, anti-vibration pad, and tapestries et al are also
made from EPP, and the products will have a wide
market prospect.
6 Conclusions
EPP are widely used in various fields, due to its
excellent endurance, workability, mechanics properties,
economic reasonability and environmental protection.
The direct use LCB-PP and modified conventional
PP with crosslinking, silane-grafting and blending
method are all the efficient way to synthesize foaming
HMSPP. At present, the most common EPP foaming
method are physical foaming method and chemical
foaming method and the most common used molding
technology of EPP includes extruding method and
injection molding method. The EPP products are
widely used in the field of exercise equipment, which
has a wide market prospect.
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