Ever order a steak and find yourself overwhelmed by the choices? How do you want it done? Fries or baked potato? Butter and sour cream with the potato? It goes on and on. Well buying foam gets like that too, and unless you have a background in polymer chemistry some of the questions can be quite baffling.
One of the options foam fabricators throw at buyers is cross-linking. It’s actually an important question as cross-linking has quite an effect on the properties of the foam. There are applications that might benefit from it while others won’t. And should cross-linking be right for your application you may even be hit with another question: chemically cross-linked or irradiated?
To help you understand the questions, and decide if it’s even something to consider, here’s a primer on cross-linked polyethylene foam. It explains what the words mean and why you might want your next foam fabrication made from it. Individual sections address:
- Understanding polyethylene
- What is cross-linking?
- Characteristics of XLPE foam
- Benefits and applications