Structural Foam

[mistysea]

I am looking for a good source for structural foam products (Airex, etc.). Does anyone know of a good supplier?

[Jeff]

The main sources are:

Airex

ATC Corecell

DIAB Divinycell & Klegecell

I don't have a recommendation as far as a specific distributor. I believe Baltek keeps pretty tight control of the distribution of Airex in the US; I'm sure it will be fairly easy to get a list of distributors for the others direct from the source and then shop around a bit. Here's a longer list:

Alcore Inc.
1502 Quarry Dr., Edgewood, MD 21040, USA
Manufacturer of aluminum, thermoplastic, Nomex and other core materials as well as precision processed parts.

Alusuisse Composites
Sintra is rigid PVC sheet, commonly used in sign-making and non-structural architecture, but is chemically, structurally, and processed identically to Airex. “Basically a "foaming agent" that releases carbon dioxide as the PVC is worked through an extrusion and calendaring process. The extruded PVC is fed through a flat-bed extrusion die that precisely calibrated the "gage" or thickness. Anvil rolls and calendar rolls provide cooling, smoothness and flatness as the material cools. Finally, the product is cooled on a "leveling bed" of rollers while cool air is fed over and under it. The side edges are trimmed and the panels are cut to length. It's so simple you could do it in your garage, if it was very large. Compared to "solid" PVC sheet, Sintra is very light. It has a density of about 0.6 or 0.7, if I recall correctly. That means IT WILL FLOAT. The 1/8" thickness is very flimsey, but the 4 and 6 mm thicknesses are quite strong for their weight. It is much heavier than styrene or polyurethane foam, usually our basis of comparison because we're familiar with these. It's also much stronger than these! Adhesives such as epoxy will adhere well if the surface is roughened to provide a "hook" for the epoxy. Don't use any adhesive that requires a "soak" to be effective. Don't use polyester resins. They are too inflexible to work well with Airex (in my experience). Aliphatic resins and so-called plastic resins also will not work. The stuff loves contact cement, but that's not suited for boat building. A final note. You can work Sintra/Airex into compound curves by gently heating it. PVC becomes moderately pliable with gentle heat.”
http://www.alusuisse-comp.com/

American Foam Technologies
RR I Box 408A, Roneeverte, WV 24970, USA
Manufacturer of Thermo-Cur, Poly-Cur, phenolic and urethane foams for industrial applications. Available in rigid sheets or buns, two-part mix for molding compound and spray-up formula. Closed and open cell.

Baltek Corp.
P.O. Box 195, northvale, NJ 07647, USA
Balsa core.

Bellcomb Technologies Inc.
70 N. 22nd Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55411 - 2237
Honeycombs, foams, balsa core, and sandwich panels.

Derenid
Avenue de la Gare, 40230 St-Vincent-de-Tyrosse, France
Phone: +33-(0) 5 58 77 44 72, Fax: +33-(0) 5 58 77 35 93
http://www.derenid.com
Industrial grade aluminum honeycomb. Properties equivalent to aeronautic industry standards but at industrial price levels. DERENID has ability to manufacture an expanded honeycomb sheet of size 2500 mm X 9000 mm with a cutting tolerance of +/- 0.1 mm (98 inch x 196 inch and with a cutting tolerance of +/- 0.004 inch). DERENID has also launched a new anti-corrosion honeycomb core for numerous applications. Contact sales@derenid.com for detail.

DIAB Inc.
315 Seahawk Dr., DeSoto, TX 75115 USA
Manufactures Divinycell, Klegecell, PVC foams, asyntactic foams, sandwich panels.
http://www.diabgroup.com/

Dupont
Barley MiU Plaza, PIO-2286, Wilmington, DE 19880-0010 USA
Kevlar fiber, Nomex paper and Korex honeycomb.

Elliott Co. of Indianapolis Inc.
9200 Zionsville Rd., Indianapolis, IN 46268 USA
Elliott Company of Indianapolis is the manufacturer of Elfoam brand polyiso (polyisocyanurate) foam insulation products.

Elliott Corp.
8741 Americana Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46268 USA

Euro-Composites Corp.
13213 Airpark Dr., Elkwood VA 22718 USA
Honeycomb core and laminated panels. Aluminum and aramid honeycomb.

General Plastics Manufacturing Co.
4910 Burlington Way, Tacoma WA 98409 USA
Last-A-Foam, high-density rigid and flexible polyurethane foams, plastic sheets.

GLS Corporation
Composite Materials Division, 723 W. Algonquin Rd., Arlington Heights, IL 60005-4432
Raw material distributor of resins, reinforcements, catalysts, gel coats, fillers, core materials and vacuum bagging systems.

Goldenwest Manufacturing Inc.
PO Box 1148, Cedar Ridge, CA 95924 USA
Butterboard, syntactic foam for patterns.

Hexcel Composites
11711 Dublin Blvd., Dublin, CA 94568
High strength carbon fibers and industrial fabrics, prepregs, adhesives and honeycomb core.

Induplast
BP 33, Rue de l'amandier, 78540 Vernouillet, France, Tel: 331 3979 6060, Fax: 331 3979 6240
http://www.nidaplast-honeycombs.com, e-mail: nidaplas@club-internet.fr
Manufacturer of plastic honeycomb core for the marine, building and composites industry.

National Nonwovens
PO Box 150, 180 Pleasant St., Easthampton, MA 01027, USA
Structural and insulating core.

New Markets Ltd.
Theocsbury House, 18-20 Barton St., Tewkesbury Gloucestershire GL20 5PP UK
Distributor of adhesive, prepregs, honeycomb, syntactic core.

Nida-Core Corp.
3240 S.W. 42nd Ave., Palm City FL 34990 USA
Plastic honeycomb, sandwich panel.

Pacific Trading Co. International
PO Box 3593, Mission Viejo CA 92690 USA
Balsa wood core and sandwich panels.

Plascore Inc.
615 N. Fairview St., PO Box 170, Zeeland, MI 49464-0170 USA
Aluminum, plastic and nomex honeycomb core.

Richmond Aircraft Products
Div. of Cadillac Plastics, 13503 Pumice St., Norwalk CA 90650 USA
Rohacell foam, Vacuum bagging films, PFG peel plies, tacky tapes, release films.

Rohm GmbH
Kirschenallee, Darmstadt 64293 Germany
Rohacell (PMI) foam.

Texas Almet Inc.
2800 E. Randol Mill Rd., Arlington, TX 76011 USA
Structural honeycomb.

Tricel Honeycomb Corp.
2100 Swanson Ct., Gurnee, IL 60031 USA
Paper honeycomb core.

Tubus Bauer AG
Zugerstr. 74, CH-6341 Baar, Switzerland, Tel: 0041 41 767 70 68, Fax: 0041 41 767 70 65
www.tubus-bauer.com e-mail: Info@tubus-bauer.com,
Thermoplastic honeycomb solutions. The range of our products based on different polymer types is unchallenged worldwide. Whatever your requirement for honeycombs are, Tubus Bauer will provide a turn key solution to you.

Westwind Composites Inc.
533 State Hwy. 36, PO Box 1087, Rosenberg TX 77471 USA
Core and sandwich panels.

YLA Cellular Products Co.
136 Wright Brothers Ave., Livermore CA 94550 USA
Specialty honeycomb. Carbon Core.

[Jeff]

We have also added a new article to the Design Articles section of Boat Design Net:

Foam Core Materials in the Marine Industry by Trevor Gundberg, Composite Materials Engineer with DIAB Inc.

Hello

what are you going to build ???
There is a place on the Isle of Wight which sells foam from ATP, which I beleive is manufactured in Canada

my email is Me1Me@aol.com

[PTMI]

Does anyone know where I can purchase the latest aluminum foam products from a french company - Derenid?

They do not respond to my direct emails.

Thanks,
Bob Pooley
bp@pagetech.com

[mxsailor]

Has anyone else purchased, or explored foam, epoxy and carbon fiber cloth from China? I have some inquiries in for my N/M Morgan 43 bare hull project.

[acutting]

The foam from Elliott Company in Zionsville, Indiana can not be used below the waterline. So it has very little use in boat building application.