Styrofoam

Styrofoam is a trademark of Dow Chemical Company for extruded polystyrene foam presently made
for thermal insulation and craft applications.[1].

In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene. Led by
Ray McIntire, they had "rediscovered" a method first discovered by Swedish inventor Carl Georg
Munters.[2] Dow acquired exclusive rights to use Munter's patents and found ways to make large
quantities of extruded polystyrene as a closed cell foam that resisted moisture. Because of its
insulating properties, buoyancy and "unsinkability", it was adopted in 1942 by the U.S. Coast Guard for
use in a six-person life raft.

Styrofoam can be used for building materials, including insulated sheathing, pipe insulation and floral
and craft products. Styrofoam insulation has been used in many notable buildings and facilities in
North America.[3]

The Dow insulation product can be identified by its distinctive blue color; Styrofoam for craft
applications is available in white and green.

In the United States, the word styrofoam is often used as a generic term for expanded polystyrene
foam, such as disposable coffee cups, coolers or packaging material, which are typically white and are
made of expanded polystyrene beads. This is different from the extruded polystyrene used for
Styrofoam insulation. The polystyrene foam used for craft applications, which can be identified by its
roughness and by the fact that it "crunches" when cut,[4] is not specifically identified as expanded or
extruded.

Refrences:
1.Dow Craft Site, "Responsible Living and STYROFOAM Brand Foam", accessed Nov. 24, 2008.
http://craft.dow.com/about/environ.htm
2. Boundy, Ray H.; J. Lawrence Amos (1990). A History of the Dow Chemical Physics Lab. New York:
Marcel Dekker, Inc.. pp. 117128. ISBN 0-8247-8097-3.
3. "Styrofoam "Walls of Fame"". http://building.dow.com/styrofoam/na/pro-
us/information/fame.htm. Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
4. Dow Craft Site, "Professional Craft Designers Design Purchase Programs/FAQs," accessed Nov. 24,
2008.
http://craft.dow.com/profcr/faq.htm

More on Styrofoam and Polystyrene
Though polystyrene manufacturers claim that their products are "ozone-friendly" or free of CFCs, this
is only partially true. Some polystyrene is now manufactured with HCFC-22, which, though less
destructive than its chemical cousins, CFC-11 and CFC-12, is still a greenhouse gas and harmful to the
ozone layer. In fact, according to a 1992 study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research,
HCFCs are three to five times more destructive to the ozone layer than previously believed. "Study
Finds CFC Alternatives More Damaging Than Believed," The Washington Post, December 10, 1989.


A 1986 EPA report on solid waste named the polystyrene manufacturing process
as the 5
th
largest creator of hazardous waste. The National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire
Research identified 57 chemical byproducts released during the combustion of polystyrene foam. The
process of making polystyrene pollutes the air and creates large amounts of liquid and solid waste
Polystyrene is a petroleum-based plastic made from the styrene monomer. Most people know it under
the name Styrofoam, which is actually the trade name of a polystyrene foam product used for housing
insulation. Polystyrene is a light-weight material, about 95% air, with very good insulation properties
and is used in all types of products from cups that keep your beverages hot or cold to packaging
material that keep your computers safe during shipping.


Styrofoam is made out of polystyrene, which is a plastic derived from petroleum. Styrofoam has
gotten a bad rap mainly because it is not particularly biodegradable, which means that it does not
decompose in landfills. Due to this factor, environmentalists have long fought to have restaurants
replace styrofoam with paper, and they scored a high-profile victory in 1990 when McDonald's made
the switch. Since then, there has been little debate on the subject -- everybody just knows that
styrofoam sucks.


Polystyrene
by emil greer Thu Aug 10 2000 at 0:07:59
You know it as Styrofoam.
Polystyrene's Versatile Properties Include :
Insulation
Cushioning
It may be compressed tightly to produce "less waste"
Bouyancy
Its Shortcomings:
Non-biodegradable properties
Toxic when incinerated
CFCs formerly used in manufacturing process aided in the destruction of the ozone layer.
Polystyrene is designed to be disposed of, therefore it has many single-use applications Its use in our
everyday life is quite common and although it poses a serious environmental problem for our future
on this planet, its still in use. Restaurants serve their take-out meals in clamshell packaging and nearly
everything shipped in a box is molded in polystyrene. We have become dependent on it without
thinking about the further effect it may have on the earth.

Styrofoam is the registered trademark of Dow Chemical Corp., covering their range of extruded,
foamed polystyrene materials. Dow sells the material into two main applications: insulation for
buildings, in which genuine Styrofoam is always blue, and the hobby and crafts market, where it might
be blue, green or white. If you drink coffee from a cup made of expanded polystyrene, then, according
to Dow, it is not Styrofoam (which is always extruded) but some other brand, and the cup will have
been moulded. Here is what Dow says on the subject (http://www.dow.com/craft/about/cup.htm):
STYROFOAM* is a registered trademark for a line of extruded polystyrene foam products made
exclusively by The Dow Chemical Company. STYROFOAM Brand Foam are often Blue* in color and
used as insulation, except in the Floral and Craft markets, where STYROFOAM Brand Foam is white or

green.
STYROFOAM Brand Foam is not used in the manufacture of disposable foam products, such as food
packaging, cups, plates, coolers or egg trays. These disposable products are made of either molded
expanded polystyrene beads or thin extruded polystyrene sheet, neither of which is manufactured by
Dow in the United States.
In the same way that Hoover became a synonym for vacuum cleaner, Biro became a synonym for
ballpoint pen and Neoprene became a synonym for synthetic rubber, Styrofoam is in the process of
entering the language as a synonym for expanded or foamed polystyrene. Dow wants to keep its well-
known trade name for its own use and is fighting back, albeit without much success. The word
Styrofoam has become too popular. Since most people now think of Styofoam as being another word
for expanded, or foamed polystyrene, I guess we ought to say something about that.

Expanded polystyrene
Polystyrene is a hard thermoplastic polymer, most often used in its foamed form, or in a blend or a
copolymer with other materials. This writeup concerns the foamed product.
Styrene, the monomer, is a fairly common chemical building block made originally from crude oil and
used in many different types of thermoplastic. Chemically speaking, it is phenylethene - a benzene ring
with one hydrogen replaced by an ethenyl radical. (Thanks HexFailure). Polystyrene is a long chain of
styrene (phenylethene) monomers linked up to form a large molecule. The backbone of the polymer is
formed by radical polymerization of the ethene. to form -(CH2-CHR)- (where the R signifies a
phenylgroup). (Thanks Professor Pi) Foamed polystyrene is made in a fairly standard process. It starts
out as beads of solid polystyrene, mixed with a blowing agent. These are warmed in steam and as they
warm up, the steam softens the thermoplastic and the blowing agent expands dramatically in volume
to create the foam. During this phase, the beads increase in size by a factor of between 20 and 60. The
next phase is critical in that the blowing agent is removed from the bubbles and replaced by air. In
many factories, the blowing agent is recovered to be re-used in the subsequent manufacturing
operations. During this phase the newly expanded beads stabilise and the walls of the foam cells
stabilise and
strengthen. Historically the bowing agent was often a chlorofluorocarbon, but since the Kyoto
Protocol, most manufacturers have replaced CFCs with HCFCs, which offer around 1/16th of the ozone
depletion potential. Finally, the beads are brought together in a mould or extrusion die, again at an
elevated temperature, so that the individual beads fuse together into the desired shape. Extrusion
processes are much cheaper, but can be used only to create shapes with a constant cross-section
(blocks, cylinders, pipes and suchlike). The moulding process can make any shape you like: a cup, or
the packaging for a computer monitor, but is a little more expensive.
The end result is a very light product with excellent thermal insulation properties

What we commonly call styrofoam, is actually the most recognizable form of foam polystyrene
packaging. Styrofoam is a Dow Chemical Co. trademarked form of polystyrene foam insulation,
introduced in the U.S. in 1954. Styrofoam is a trademarked name, the real name of the product is
foamed polystyrene. Ray McIntire invented Styrofoam for the Dow Chemical Co.. McIntire said his
invention of foamed polystyrene was accidental. His invention came as he was trying to find a flexible
electrical insulator around the time of World War II. Polystyrene, which already had been invented,
was a good insulator but too brittle. McIntire tried to make a new rubber-like polymer by combining
styrene with isobutylene, a volatile liquid, under pressure. The result was a foam polystyrene with
bubble, 30 times lighter than regular polystyrene. Source The Detroit News


Polystyrene is a strong plastic created from erethylene and benzine that can be injected, extruded or
blow molded, making it a very useful and versatile manufacturing material. Most of us recognize
styrofoam a form of foam polystyrene packaging. Polystyrene is also used as a building material, with
electrical appliances light switches and plates), and in other household items. Polystyrene has a long
history of evolution behind it. In 1839, a German apothecary called Eduard Simon discovered
polystyrene. Eduard Simon isolated a substance from natural resin, however, he did not know what he
had discovered. It took another German, organic chemist, Hermann Staudinger, to realize that Simon's
discovery, comprised of long chains of styrene molecules, was a plastic polymer. In 1922, Staudinger
published his theories on polymers, stating that natural rubbers were made up of long repetitive
chains of monomers that gave rubber its elasticity. He went on to write that the materials
manufactured by the thermal processing of styrene were similar to rubber. They were the high
polymers including polystyrene. In 1953, Hermann Staudinger won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for
his research. In 1930, the scientists at BASF developed a way to commercially manufacture
polystyrene. Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabrik (BASF) was founded in 1861. BASF has invented synthetic
coal tar dyes, ammonia, and nitrogenous fertilizers and developed polystyrene, PVC, magnetic tape,
and synthetic rubber. (note: A company called I. G. Farben is often listed as the developer of
polystyrene because BASF was under trust to I. G. Farben in 1930.) In 1937, Dow Chemical introduced
polystyrene to the U.S. market.

Chemical components used to make Styrofoam.
Benzene
Styrene
Ethylene
Blowing Agents CFCs and HCFCs
Benzene is extracted from coal, but is also found in gasoline (2% present in U.S. gas and 5% present in
gas from developing countries). Benzene is a clear, colorless liquid with a noted pleasant odor.
Benzene is present naturally in certain foods (I could not find out what foods its present in). Another
common name for Benzene is Coal Tar.
Nearly 75% of all extracted Benzene is used in Polystyrene production. It is used to transform Styrene
into Polystyrene (brittle plastic). Styrene Monomer is a clear, oily liquid with a slight odor.
Styrene for manufacturing is cracked or extracted from petroleum.
Ethylene has been used as one of the two new blowing agents in the production of Styrofoam.
Polystyrene is basically a hard, brittle plastic (just like disposable plastic cups) and it doesnt become
Styrofoam until it gets injected with a blowing agent to make it 30 times lighter than its original
weight.
The name, Polystyrene, doesnt change once it becomes Styrofoam, because the chemical
composition doesnt change.
To make Styrofoam, certain gases are injected into the plastic, blowing tiny holes that become gas
and air filled pockets once the plastic cools. Up until the late 1970s CFCs, or Chlorofluorocarbons,
were used as the blowing agents for Styrofoam production. The main CFC blowing agent was
Isobutylene. This was phased out due to growing knowledge of the relationship between CFCs and

global warming and replaced with HCFCs combined with Ethylene. Now before
we move on to the controversy behind HCFCs, lets take a look at how the chemical companies and the
EPA see the history of Styrofoam production differently.
Hydrochloroflorocarbons are thought to be less harmful than regular old fashioned CFCs. In fact,
HCFCs are supposed to be 90% less harmful than CFCs. For Styrofoam production, generally HCFC-22
is combined with Ethylene to create Ethylene Oxide (22% Ethylene). The fact that HCFC-22 is basically
CFC-22 with a Hydrogen molecule attached (and CFC-22 was banned here in the late 1980s) many
people are skeptical of the idea that HCFCs are much better for the environment.