Facts Regarding Expanded Polystyrene Foam

What is EPS foam?

EPS is Expanded Polystyrene Foam. Polystyrene is a polymer made from the monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is commercially manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry. At room temperature, polystyrene is normally a solid thermoplastic, but can be melted at higher temperature for molding or extrusion, then resolidified. Styrene is an aromatic monomer, and polystyrene is an aromatic polymer.

History of Polystyrene foam:
Polystyrene was accidentally discovered in 1839 by Eduard Simon; an apothecary in Berlin, Germany. From storax, the resin of Liquidambar orientalis, he distilled an oily substance, a monomer that he named styrol. Several days later Simon found that the styrol had thickened, presumably due to oxidation, into a jelly he dubbed styrol oxide ("Styroloxyd"). By 1845 English chemist John Blyth and German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann showed that the same transformation of styrol took place in the absence of oxygen. They called their substance metastyrol. Analysis later showed that it was chemically identical to Styroloxyd. In 1866 Marcelin Berthelot correctly identified the formation of metastyrol from styrol as a polymerization process. About 80 years went by before it was realized that heating of styrol starts a chain reaction, which produces macromolecules, following the thesis of German organic chemist Hermann Staudinger (1881 - 1965). This eventually led to the substance receiving its present name, polystyrene. The I.G. Farben Company began manufacturing polystyrene in Ludwigshafen, Germany, about 1931, hoping it would be a suitable replacement for die cast zinc in many applications. Success was achieved when they developed a reactor vessel that extruded polystyrene through a heated tube and cutter, producing polystyrene in pellet form.

Characteristics of Polystyrene:

Pure solid polystyrene is a colorless, hard plastic with limited flexibility. It can be cast into molds with fine detail. Polystyrene can be transparent or can be made to take on various colors. It is economical and is used for producing plastic model assembly kits, plastic cutlery, CD "jewel" cases, and many other objects where a fairly rigid, economical plastic of any of various colors is desired.

Polystyrene's most common use, however, is as expanded polystyrene (EPS). Expanded polystyrene is produced from a mixture of about 90-95% polystyrene and 5-10% gaseous blowing agent, most commonly pentane or carbon dioxide. Through the use of heat, usually stem, the solid plastic is expanded into foam.

Expanded polystyrene used to contain CFCs, but other, more environmentally safe blowing agents are now used. Because it is an aromatic hydrocarbon, it burns with an orange-yellow flame, giving off soot.

Cutting EPS foam:
Expanded polystyrene is very easily cut with a hot-wire foam cutter, which is easily made by a heated and taut length of wire, usually nichrome. The hot wire foam cutter works by heating the wire to the point where it can vaporize foam immediately adjacent to it. The foam gets vaporized before actually touching the heated wire, which yields exceptionally smooth cuts.
Polystyrene can also be cut with a traditional cutter. In order to do this without ruining the sides of the blade one must first dip the blade in water and cut with the blade at an angle of about 30º. The procedure has to be repeated multiple times for best results.
Polystyrene can also be cut on 3 and 5-axis CNC routers, enabling large-scale prototyping and model-making. Special polystyrene cutters are available that look more like large cylindrical rasps

Uses for Polystyrene:
Polystyrene, shaped and cut with hot wire foam cutters, is used in architecture models, actual signage, amusement parks, movie sets, airplane construction, aerospace and much more. Such cutters may cost just a few dollars (for a completely manual cutter) to tens of thousands of dollars for large CNC machines that can be used in high-volume industrial production.