DYTHERM: a new temperature-resistant removable foam encapsulant

A new commercially available copolymer produced by ARCO/Polymers, Inc., under the tradename of DYTHERM X214 has been evaluated for use as a removable foam encapsulant. DYTHERM X214 is a styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer that increases the upper use temperature of previously employed polystyrene bead foam from 80/sup 0/C to about 115/sup 0/C. The processing of DYTHERM X214 is similar to polystyrene foam beads except that higher fusion temperatures (approx. 125/sup 0/C) are necessary and polar solvents (e.g., tetrahydrofuran) are needed for foam removal. Mechanical properties (e.g., compressive strength) of DYTHERM X214 are slightly higher than polystyrene foam beads at comparable densities; there is little difference in other physical properties.