Foam
The Foam material category is composed of solid materials that have been expanded using chemical and/or physical blowing agents. This process results in a solid material that contains foam cells, which are bubbles that have been frozen in size and shape in the foam material. The Foam material category can be used for any foams, including open cell and closed cell, as well as for flexible and rigid foams.
Foam materials can be customized at the following Production Stages:
- Raw Material Source
- Raw Material Form
- Mixing/Preparation
- Foaming
- Molding/Pouring
- Chemistry Certifications
At minimum, the primary raw material content needs to be known to select an appropriate foam material option in the Higg MSI.
There are several Example Materials in the Foam category that can be selected and customized.
- Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) foam should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is EVA. If the EVA compound has significant filler (>10% by mass relative to EVA, not including pigments), then the Typical EVA shoe compound material should be selected instead.
- Polyethylene (PE) foam should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is polyethylene.
- Polyurethane (PU) foam should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is polyurethane. Foams that are directly formed from isocyanate and polyol inputs should select this material type, since the resulting raw material is polyurethane.
- Typical EVA shoe compound should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is a typical shoe compound comprised of EVA, filler, and pigments.
- Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
- Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) foam should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is fossil fuel based thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).
- Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam should be selected when the raw material type of the foam is Expanded Polystyrene.