Die-cutting Materials | Overview of Common Foam Types

Die-cutting materials come in a variety of types, each with its own specific properties and advantages. One of the most popular foam types used in die-cutting is polyethylene foam, which is known for its excellent cushioning and shock absorption capabilities. Another widely used foam type is PVC foam, which is known for its versatility, durability, and resistance to chemicals, making it an ideal choice for various applications. EVA foam, on the other hand, is known for its softness and flexibility, making it suitable for use in cushioning and padding products. Overall, the choice of foam type will depend on the specific requirements of the application, and die-cutting techniques can be used to cut the foam into precise shapes and sizes to ensure optimal performance.

What is foam:

Foam is a polymer with many small cells. It has a solid polymer matrix with other gases filling the small cells. It has a low foaming rate and high density, mainly used for shock absorption and sealing purposes.

Types of foam:

Polyurethane Foam

It has excellent compression and rebound properties, moisture resistance, and chemical resistance. It can fully meet various environmental requirements such as sealing and energy absorption. Depending on the requirements of pressure-sensitive adhesive, it can avoid back adhesive operation, and it has a higher performance-to-price ratio. With PET or paper as the backing surface, it ensures the smoothness of the foam and is suitable for various die-cutting processes.

PU Foam Polyurethane

PU leather is the second layer of leather on the back of general leather, coated with a layer of PU resin, also known as coated leather. It is cheap and has high utilization. With changes in technology, it is also made into various varieties, such as imported double-layer leather. Due to its unique craftsmanship, stable quality, and novel varieties, it is currently a high-end leather whose price and grade are not inferior to synthetic leather.

PU leather and genuine leather have their own characteristics. PU leather has a beautiful appearance, is easy to care for, and has a low price, but it is not wear-resistant and easy to damage. Leather is expensive and troublesome to maintain, but it is durable.

Conductive Foam

Conductive foam is wrapped with conductive cloth on flame-retardant sponge. After a series of treatments, it has good surface conductivity and can be easily fixed on equipment and shielded with tape. It can provide shielding materials with different shapes, installation methods, UL grades, and shielding performance.

According to the material of conductive foam, it can be divided into aluminum foil cloth foam, conductive fiber cloth foam, gold-plated cloth foam, carbon cloth foam, etc.

Aluminum Foil Foam

Aluminum foil foam is made of soft pure aluminum foil and glass fiber. It is wrapped with flame-retardant foam instead of conductive cloth. With a surface impedance of less than 0.016Ω, it has excellent metal shielding performance. Its heat resistance can reach 130℃. It has a low cost and can meet the cost and pressure requirements of products. Aluminum foil cloth conductive foam has excellent performance, high shielding performance above 100 dB, reduces the contact surface impedance, is corrosion-resistant, and improves the compatibility of the connector assembly metal coating.

CR Foam

CR foam is a general-purpose special rubber that not only has good physical properties of ordinary rubber but also has excellent flame resistance, oil resistance, and chemical resistance. It plays an important role among various synthetic rubbers.

Customizable according to customer requirements, it is equipped with various imported tapes, with good adhesion. The products are used in communication, computers, household appliances, calculators, electronic toys, and various electronic controllers.

EPE Pearl Foam

EPE, also known as pearl foam, is a non-cross-linked closed-cell structure and a new environmentally-friendly packaging material. It is composed of countless independent air bubbles generated by physical foaming of low-density polyethylene resin. It overcomes the disadvantages of common foam plastics in terms of easy damage, deformation, and poor rebound rate. It has advantages such as waterproof, shockproof, sound insulation, thermal insulation, good plasticity, strong toughness, recyclability, environmental protection, impact resistance, and good chemical resistance. It is an ideal alternative to traditional packaging materials.

These are several common types of foam materials used in die-cutting. Although the appearance of foam may seem simple, the production process is quite complex, and each step has strict requirements, especially the control of die-cutting processes. Only high-quality die-cutting machines can produce high-quality products, reducing waste and saving costs to a certain extent. If you want to learn more about die-cutting materials or need help choosing a die-cutting machine, please contact industryprocess. We are always ready to serve you.