A new, simple water foamed injection moulding process to allow class A polymer surface finish

"The global structural foam market is expected to reach $31.9 Billion by 2020, with annualized growth of ~6% between 2015 & 2020\.

Structural foam is significantly lighter than solid plastics, with high strength-to-weight ratio and lower cost tooling. The automotive sector is the main driver to structural foam growth as lifetime energy & CO2 savings drive the need for light weight components.

Chemical blowing agents normally used in structural foam production cause ozone depletion & will be phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Gases such as butane & pentane are an inherent fire risk, while N2 & CO2 are relatively expensive to use, require storage alongside the mould m/c. Structural foam parts also using these processes all suffer from relatively poor surface finish especially when low injection pressure is used. Foamtech is a new process to make structural foam moulded light-weight parts, with a Class A surface finish. The idea combines novel foaming technology - Super Heated Water Injection technology (SHWI) that uses tap water to foam polymer achieved using a novel injection technology derived from a common rail diesel injection system. This is combined with our novel melt stream splitting valve array that enables us to keep the 'foamed' fraction separate from the 'skin' fraction to achieve a class A surface finish."