In search of new materials to develop comfortable shoe sole, nowadays the researchers have resorted to the thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) usually used as cushioning materials for its easy processability and adorable physical properties that can meet both the comfort as well as other functional requirements (i.e. fashion, ultralight, aging, etc.). TPEs are a class of copolymers or physical mixes of polymers and have the morphology of non-miscible blends of elastomer and thermoplastic matrix simultaneously. Low or room temperature elastomeric behavior and high temperature processablitiy makes TPE as a suitable material for developing lightweight and recyclable microcellular foams [1]. Most of the commercial TPE foams for footwear application are developed either from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) or ethylenevinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer in which the soft matrix provides sufficient free space for gas absorption whereas the rigid matrix prevents the gas diffusion during foaming process [2][3][4][5][6]. Styrene-(ethylene-cobutylene)-styrene polymers (SEBS) derived from the hydrogenation of styrene-butadiene-styrene (SES) polymers is a typical TPE which shows a better weather resistance, lower compression set, lower density, etc., can be a potential alternative of TPU or EVA [7,8]. SEBS consists of a soft midblock of ethylene-butylene (E-co-B) and hard end-blocks of 948 Abstract. Developing eco-friendly, flexible thermoplastic elastomeric foams based on poly(styrene-(ethylene-co-butylene)styrene) (SEBS) is a challenging task because of its poor melt strength. A promising approach to overcome this challenge is the use of synergistic technologies, such as combination of irradiation, supercritical fluid foaming, and steam-chest molding technologies. Herein, foamed beads were produced from pre-crosslinked SEBS beads using supercritical nitrogen as blowing agent, followed by subsequently efficient steam-chest molding to obtain midsole part. The crosslinking was accomplished under the assistance of electron beam. The rheology properties and foaming behavior reveals that the viscosity and modulus of the matrix increase with the increase of crosslinking resulting from increasing the irradiation dose (ID). With increasing the ID, successful foaming with larger expansion and improved cell morphology was achieved. SEBS bead foams were successfully obtained from 65 kGy-derived pre-crosslinked beads through steam-chest molding which showed a specific gravity of 0.252 g·cm -3 and comparable/superior mechanical properties to/than that of commercial thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) or ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) foams. Especially, the higher elasticity and resilience of SEBS foams meet well the desirable properties for footwear application which supports SEBS to be an alternative for TPU or EVA.

Intrinsically flame-retardant polymers based on lightweight and elastomeric microcellular foams are successfully prepared from flexible chlorinated polyethylene (CPE)/chlorinated polyvinylchloride (CPVC) compounds through compression molding foaming technology. The incorporation of CPVC to CPE at once improves the foam characteristics, and enhances the mechanical and fire performances. Due to the plausible intermolecular and intramolecular crosslinking among the polymer chains, the dense network structure of CPE/ CPVC with enhanced strength results in increased cell size, reduced cell density, and improved dimensional stability of CPE/CPVC foams (CCFs). These improvements are noticed to be enhanced with increasing CPVC content in the CCF. Also, the flame-retardant properties of the foams (i.e., limiting oxygen index and cone calorimeter combustion) are found to be increased with the increase of CPVC content. For instance, a highly flame-retardant CCF at CPE/CPVC ratio of 60/40 shows a shorter combustion period, as derived from the respective heat release rate vs time curve. Corresponding peaks of heat release rate, total heat release rate, peak of mass loss rate, total smoke release, and char residue are recorded to be 8.4%, 5.8%, 3.0%, 6.6%, and 1000.1% of those recorded for the pristine CPE foam. 2 of 7) www.advancedsciencenews.com www.mme-journal.de (

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