Trademarked brand for extruded polystyrene
Styrofoam
is a
trademarked
brand of closed-cell
extruded polystyrene foam
(XPS), manufactured to provide continuous
building insulation
board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as
thermal insulation
and as a water barrier. This material is light blue in color and is owned and manufactured by
DuPont
. DuPont also has produced a line of green and white foam shapes for use in crafts and floral arrangements.
[1]
The term
Styrofoam
is often used in the United States as a colloquial term to refer to expanded (not extruded)
polystyrene foam
(
EPS
).
[2]
Outside the United States, EPS is most commonly referred to as simply "polystyrene" with the term "styrofoam" being used in its capacity to describe all forms of extruded polystyrene, not just the Dupont brand itself. Polystyrene (EPS) is often used in
food containers
, coffee cups, and as
cushioning
material in
packaging
.
[3]
[1]
Styrofoam is, however, a far less dense material than EPS and is more commonly suited to tasks such as thermal
insulation
.
[2]
Additionally, it is moderately soluble in many organic solvents,
cyanoacrylate
, and the propellants and solvents of
spray paint
.
History
[
edit
]
In the 1940s, researchers, originally at
Dow
's Chemical Physics Lab, led by
Ray McIntire
, found a way to make foamed
polystyrene
. They rediscovered a method first used by
Swedish
inventor
Carl Georg Munters
, and obtained an exclusive license to Munters's
patent
in the United States.
[4]
Dow found ways to adapt Munters's method to make large quantities of
extruded
polystyrene as a closed cell foam that resists moisture. The patent on this adaptation was filed in 1947.
[5]
Uses
[
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]
Styrofoam has a variety of uses. Styrofoam is composed of 98% air, making it lightweight and buoyant.
[6]
DuPont produces Styrofoam building materials, including varieties of
building insulation
sheathing and pipe insulation. The claimed
R-value
of Styrofoam insulation is five per inch.
[7]
Styrofoam can be used under roads and other structures to prevent soil disturbances due to freezing and thawing.
[8]
[9]
DuPont also produces Styrofoam blocks and other shapes for use by
florists
and in craft products.
[10]
DuPont insulation Styrofoam has a distinctive blue color; Styrofoam for craft applications is available in white and green.
[1]
Environmental issues
[
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]
The
EPA
and
International Agency for Research on Cancer
reported limited evidence that
styrene
is
carcinogenic
for humans and
experimental animals
, meaning that there is a positive
association
between exposure and cancer and that causality is credible, but that other explanations cannot be confidently excluded.
[11]
[12]
See also the expansive list of
environmental issues of Polystyrene
, among which it being non-biodegradable.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]