PET Foam Sheet
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam sheet are sheets with open cell or closed cell porosity. (RDC 6/4/2009)
Packaging: Highly crystallized PET foams are useable in both microwave and conventional ovens and are candidate materials for pre-cooking or sterilization, insulated transport, cooking vessel, reheating, and storage of food. (RDC 6/4/2009) Thermoforming: Branch and Gunter have developed packages and containers produced by a solid state method for the manufacture of foamed polymeric material . The packages are suitable for pre-cooking or sterilization, insulated transport, cooking vessel, reheating, and storage of food. The gas impregnated thermoforming process begins by exposing the PET sheet to a non-reacting gas at elevated pressure to dissolve the gas within the sheet. This sheet is removed, depressurized and thermoformed below the melt temperature. The result is foaming during thermoforming. (RDC 6/4/2009) (U.S. Patent 7,501,175, March 10, 2009) Gregory L Branch and Wiley D Gunter, MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc., Arlington, Washington) Commpercialization: While market acceptance of PET foam sheet for packaging has proved an elusive goal in North America, European processors are making a stab at industrial applications. This year, both Fagerdala Benelux SA in Thimister-Clermont, Belgium (part of Fagerdala World Foams in Sweden), and Alcan Airex, part of Alcan Composites in Sins, Switzerland commercialized extruded, closed-cell PET foam sheets as structural closed-cell PET foam sheets as structural core materials for composites. Both firms aim to replace PVC foam, high-density urethane foam, and balsa cores. (RDC 6/4/2009) (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/PET+foam+sheet+finds+industrial+uses+abroad-a0133527061 6/4/2009)
Recent US Patents
To go to the text version of the patent, click on US Patent Number Search and enter the patent number in the search box
Recent Journal Articles
To get to the abstract or article, copy the citation and paste it into favorite search engine (ex. Google). The date is the date the entry was found
Review Articles
To get to the abstract and the article, open up your internet search engine and copy the title to the search box. Once on the Journal's website, find the year and issue. Then scroll to the article. The date is the date of the entry made on this page.
Editor's Notes
As the literature is reviewed, and items of interest concerning this topic are found. These may be added in an abbreviated form with the reference. Readers and contributors are invited to add their own notes. Contributors may add them directly and other readers can simply send their notes to the editor, Roger Corneliussen at rcorneliussen@4spe.org. He may edit and add them to this page at his discretion.