Properties and Benefits of Expanded Polystyrene Blocks

EPS Manufacturing

What is EPS?
Expanded Polystyrene or EPS is made out of styrene, a substance that is commonly found naturally in very small levels on some fruits, plants, vegetables, nuts and meats

EPS is widely used in construction Industry and apart from the same, it has penetrated into decoration, thermal insulation, packaging for food and pharma industries, and as a protective packaging material for consumer durables.

Because of the usage of crude oil, EPS has been in questioning for a long time. But, with EPS the consumption of crude oil is almost 0.1% and less, while the remaining oil is reused in future process.

Thus, EPS is found as an energy efficient material compared to its alternatives in the Industry.

Manufacturing of EPS Blocks
We follow a 3 stage process in the manufacturing of EPS blocks. This is a time-tested process to ensure we manufacture the finest of quality and the end product performs to the best of its efficiency.

  • Pre-Expansion: For manufacturing expanded polystyrene, the polystyrene beads are impregnated with the foaming agent pentane. Polystyrene granulate is prefoamed at temperatures above 90°C.This temperature causes the foaming agent to evaporate and hence inflating the thermoplastic base material to 20-50 times its original size.
  • Maturing/Stabilization: Once the material is inflated to 20-50 times its size, the beads are stored for 6-12 hours allowing them to reach equilibrium. Further then beads are conveyed to the mold to produce forms suited as per application.
  • Molding: This is the final stage of the process where the stabilized beads are molded in either large blocks (Block Molding Process) or designed in custom shapes (Shape Molding Process).The material can be modified by the addition of additives such as flame retardant to further enhance fire behavior of EPS.

    Some of the popular molding of EPS are into boxes, blocks, sheets and other parts for packaging and construction purposes.

Application of Expanded Polystyrene Blocks (EPS)

  • Since its inception in 1950s, it is being used in wide range of projects all over the world, from protecting small electronic components to large mechanical/Electrical structure.
  • Amongst all, protecting food, protecting items from the possible damage during the production and shipment, etc. can be noticed frequent ly.
  • It is also used in industries for packaging frozen products. It is used for the insulation of walls, roofs and concrete floors.
  • Due to its technical properties such as low weight, rigidity, and formability, expanded polystyrene is used in a wide range of applications such as trays, plates and fish boxes.
  • Building and construction applications account majorly demand for expanded polystyrene.

Properties of Expanded Polystyrene Blocks (EPS):
The structure of the material allows for the following properties:
i) Light in weight – EPS is very light in weight, as the material comprises of 98% air. This makes handling and transportation effortless, which can reduce the time of loading and unloading. Because of the same, the overall transportation cost and the fuel used in transportation is saved supporting the energy factor.
ii) High Thermal Efficiency – The closed cell structure allows the material to have very low thermal conductivity. Due to such high thermal efficiency, EPS helps to hold goods that cannot adhere to sudden temperature changes. It is used widely in pharma, fresh food or sea food packaging since it can withstand frequent ambient changes.
iii) Customizable – Another exciting property of EPS Blocks are the fact they are highly customizable to any shape and size we want them to be. This allows to reduce wastage of blocks during construction or packaging applications. They also go well with a variety of materials easing in application levels.
iv) Eco-friendly – EPS is 100% recyclable, which is highly important given the current global warming crisis in the world. It helps save energy by consuming low energy during manufacturing, saving fuel while transport due to its low weight, and finally withstanding for longer tenures reducing the global impact due to replacements.
v) Weathering and Aging Resistance – EPS has a better resistance to external moisture and atmospheric effects when compared to its competition. Even after prolonged exposure to water and weatherly conditions, EPS has shown results in maintaining its shape and strength. This makes it ideal for packaging long-distance shipments storage equipment.

If you are looking to use EPS blocks in your business application, feel free to reach out to us here. We are one of the leading manufacturers of EPS blocks custom made to your business requirement.

Reach out to us and our expert consultant will connect with you to advice further on the same.