Arkema (Colombes / France; www.arkema.com) has begun marketing a new foam masterbatch designed specifically for use with its “Kynar” PDVF resins in continuous extrusion applications. The masterbatch and the foaming technology were developed by the French group’s King of Prussia laboratory near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / USA. The product is sold in pellet form, said to allow fine-tuning of foaming levels in conventional extrusion processes.

Targeted applications include plenum wire, cable and fibre optics jacketing, tube, pipe, sheet, film, and rod applications. Arkema say the samples tested are proved to be easily weldable to other foamed and non-foamed Kynar products. The new masterbatch also is claimed to improve flexibility, strippability, ease of cutting, thermal and acoustic insulation, as well as reducing shrink-back in fibre and compressibility. Additionally, the closed-cell foam structure maintains the barrier, chemical and temperature resistance of the fluoropolymer resins.