Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-09-04 Origin: Site
In modern industrial and technological fields, material selection often determines a product's performance and level of innovation. As an emerging high-performance material, PET foam board is gaining prominence across multiple industries due to its unique advantages. This article will provide an in-depth exploration of PET foam board's definition, production process, performance benefits, and extensive application scenarios.
PET foam board is a lightweight, high-strength foam material manufactured primarily from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) through a foaming process. As a common plastic, PET finds extensive use in beverage bottles and fibre products. Through advanced foaming technology, PET is given new life as a rigid foam board with a closed-cell structure. Compared to traditional polystyrene (EPS) and polyurethane (PU) foams, PET foam offers superior mechanical strength and heat resistance, while also being environmentally friendly and recyclable.
From a molecular perspective, PET is a linear thermoplastic polyester. The benzene ring structure within its molecular chains confers inherent rigidity and strength to the material. Through the foaming process, these chains form a uniform closed-cell honeycomb structure, enabling the material to achieve outstanding mechanical properties while retaining its lightweight nature. This unique structural design makes PET foam board an ideal core material for sandwich constructions, finding extensive application in sectors demanding both lightweight solutions and high strength.
The manufacturing process of PET foam board exemplifies the precision and eco-conscious principles of modern materials engineering. Key steps include:
Recycled PET flakes or virgin PET pellets are employed as raw materials. Recycled PET undergoes rigorous sorting, washing and crushing processes to ensure material purity. This step not only reduces production costs but also facilitates resource recycling, with each tonne of recycled PET used reducing carbon emissions by 1.5 tonnes.
PET resin is blended with nucleating agents, blowing agents and other additives in precise proportions, then melt-blended within a twin-screw extruder. Chain extenders are incorporated to repair molecular chains and enhance intrinsic viscosity, thereby meeting foam formulation requirements. Temperature control during this stage is critical, typically maintained between 270–290°C.
Physical blowing agents, such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen, are injected into molten PET under supercritical conditions. By precisely controlling pressure and temperature, the gas forms a uniform pore structure within the polymer matrix. This process employs advanced dynamic pressure control technology to ensure a uniform pore size distribution ranging from 100 to 500 micrometres.
The foamed material undergoes cooling and setting to form a continuous foam slab, which is subsequently cut into panels of various dimensions according to customer specifications. The finished product requires surface treatment and performance testing, including density measurement, mechanical property testing, and thermal performance analysis
The entire process prioritises energy efficiency and low emissions, aligning with sustainable development requirements.
PET foam board offers multiple outstanding properties, making it an ideal alternative to many traditional foam materials:
· Lightweight yet strong:
Outstanding mechanical properties PET foam panels exhibit an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio, with compressive strengths reaching 3–8 MPa and flexural strengths of 4–10 MPa, significantly surpassing PVC and PU foams of comparable densities. More importantly, PET foam demonstrates superior fatigue resistance, maintaining structural integrity under cyclic loading. This characteristic renders it particularly suitable for applications enduring prolonged dynamic loads, such as wind turbine blades.
· Excellent heat resistance:
PET foam exhibits an exceptionally broad heat resistance range (-180°C to +200°C), with a heat deflection temperature exceeding 200°C. This significantly outperforms PVC foam (80°C) and PU foam (120°C). Its thermal conductivity is merely 0.035–0.045 W/(m·K), delivering outstanding thermal insulation properties. It maintains dimensional stability across varying temperature conditions and exhibits a low coefficient of thermal expansion.
· Environmentally friendly and recyclable:
PET foam boards not only utilise recycled materials but are themselves 100% recyclable. Throughout their life cycle assessment, PET foam exhibits a carbon footprint over 30% lower than comparable products. Furthermore, this material contains no harmful substances such as chlorofluorocarbons or halogens, complying with both the RoHS and REACH environmental directives.
· Chemical stability:
Resistant to oils, solvents, and most acids/alkalis, suitable for harsh environments.
· Low water absorption:
Closed-cell structure effectively blocks moisture, extending service life.
· Easy processing:
Can be readily cut, bonded, and moulded to meet diverse requirements.
The properties of PET foam boards enable significant contributions across various sectors:
Within the wind power industry, PET foam has become the mainstream choice for core materials in wind turbine blades. Its outstanding fatigue resistance and weathering properties ensure blade reliability throughout their 20-year design lifespan.
In the aerospace sector, PET foam is employed in aircraft interior panels, luggage racks and auxiliary fuel tanks. Its flame-retardant properties (compliant with FAR 25.853 standards) and low smoke density characteristics ensure flight safety. Within rail transport, it is utilised for carriage flooring, ceiling panels and partition walls, not only reducing weight and energy consumption but also enhancing sound insulation and thermal performance. Within the automotive industry, it is employed in body panels, bumper core materials, and battery pack protective structures, contributing to the lightweight development of electric vehicles.
Insulation wall panels and roof fillers, combining thermal efficiency with structural support.
Manufacture of surfboards, snowboards, etc., providing buoyancy and impact resistance.
An ideal choice for protective packaging of premium products and durable display boards.
Changzhou JLON Composite Materials specialises in the manufacturing, research, development and sales of PET foam boards. With multiple production lines, we are a leading PET manufacturer in East China, holding five invention patents. Our products are extensively utilised in high-end composite material manufacturing sectors including wind power generation, aerospace, shipbuilding, rail transit and new energy vehicles. Should you require PET foam boards, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Contact JLON team to get more technical data.
Email: info@jloncomposite.com
Whatsapp: 0086 139 6115 6380
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