Foamed Lunch Box Compound (PLA/PBAT)

About This Product

A compound of polylactic acid and polybutylene adipate terephthalate formulated as a foaming grade and supplied as pellets for foam extrusion and forming. The PBAT fraction and the compounding are directed at melt strength, the property a polymer needs to hold a cell wall while gas expands inside it. Expanded polystyrene food boxes are banned or restricted in a growing number of markets, and the property being replaced is not just the material but the foam structure: insulation and very low weight at low cost. Both come from the gas rather than the polymer: a closed-cell foam is mostly trapped gas, gas conducts heat poorly, and the wall insulates in proportion to how little solid polymer runs through it and how uniform the cells are, since large or broken cells let convection cross them. Holding that structure is the difficulty, because as the blowing gas expands the cell walls thin fast, and a polymer with low melt strength tears and collapses into a coarse, partly open foam. This grade foams to give that cell structure in a biodegradable polymer, so the finished box insulates hot food and adds little to shipping weight. Supplied as a raw material for processing on the buyer's own line. We do not produce finished articles. It is used in foamed lunch boxes, takeaway containers and as an EPS replacement. Bio Green Chem supplies this foamed lunch box compound to specification on polymer base, pellet form, foam density and the wall thickness your forming line runs.