TWI838933B - Foaming composite material and package cushioning material formed therefrom - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a foaming composite material including a plurality of first foamed granules and a plurality of second foamed granules for forming structure through compressing, bonding and shaping. At least one first cross-section of the first foamed granules taken through a center thereof is substantially circular, and has a first diameter. At least one second cross-section of the second foamed granules taken through a center thereof along its long axis is substantially elliptical, and has a second diameter on the long axis. Said second diameter is smaller than said first diameter. In the foaming composite material, the first foamed granules are respectively made of a predetermined foaming material, and the second foamed granules respectively contain at least a part of the predetermined foaming material. When the first foamed granules are mixed with the second foamed granules, the second foamed granules fill the voids between the first foamed granules.

Description

Foam composite material and packaging cushioning material formed therefrom

The present invention relates to a foam composite material and a packaging cushioning material formed therefrom. Specifically, the present invention relates to a foam composite material having a first foaming granule and a second foaming granule and a packaging cushioning material formed therefrom.

The finished product made by extruding, bonding and shaping the foamed material can be used as a lightweight packaging and cushioning material for packaging, carrying or protecting objects. However, there may be many gaps between the foamed particles of this type of packaging and cushioning material, which makes it easy for the packaging and cushioning material to break or peel off from the gaps when subjected to impact or pressure. As mentioned above, the integrity, stability and protectiveness of the packaging and cushioning material that is easy to break or peel off will be reduced, and it may unexpectedly contaminate or pollute the packaged objects. In addition, the debris or fragments of the broken or peeled packaging and cushioning material also increase the difficulty of cleaning and recycling this type of packaging and cushioning material. Therefore, it is expected to develop a foamed composite material and a packaging buffer material formed therefrom that can improve the above-mentioned defects.

Technical means to solve the problem

To solve the above problems, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a foam composite material is provided for extrusion, bonding and shaping to form a structure. The foam composite material comprises: a plurality of first foam particles, at least one first section passing through the central section thereof is substantially circular and has a first diameter; and a plurality of second foam particles, at least one second section passing through the central section thereof along the long axis is substantially elliptical and has a second diameter on the long axis, wherein the second diameter is smaller than the first diameter. The first foam particles are respectively made of a preset foam material, and the second foam particles respectively include at least part of the preset foam material. In addition, in the foam composite material, when the first foam particles and the second foam particles are mixed, the second foam particles are filled in the gaps between the first foam particles.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a packaging buffer material, which is a structure formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the above-mentioned foam composite material. The packaging buffer material includes: a plurality of first particles, which are formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the first foam particles; and a plurality of second particles, which are formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the second foam particles. Wherein, each first particle in the structure is mutually bonded with other first particles. Wherein, there are a plurality of first gaps between the mutually bonded first particles in the structure, each first gap is formed between adjacent parts of the first particles, and each first gap is smaller than each first particle. Wherein, the second particles in the structure are respectively filled in each first gap.

Comparison with the efficacy of previous technologies

The foam composite material provided in each embodiment of the present invention and the packaging buffer material formed therefrom can improve the integrity and stability of the structure formed by extrusion bonding and shaping. Thereby, when the packaging buffer material is used to package, carry, or protect an object, the protection of the object can be further enhanced. In addition, since the probability of peeling or breaking can be reduced, the foam composite material provided in each embodiment of the present invention and the packaging buffer material formed therefrom can reduce the unexpected contamination or pollution of the object when packaging, carrying, or protecting the object. Therefore, the foam composite material provided in each embodiment of the present invention and the packaging buffer material formed therefrom can improve the reliability and cleanliness when packaging, carrying, or protecting an object.

Various embodiments will be described below, and those with ordinary knowledge in the art should be able to easily understand the spirit and principles of the present invention by referring to the description with accompanying drawings. However, although some specific embodiments will be specifically described in the text, these embodiments are only exemplary and are not to be considered as limiting or exhaustive in all aspects. Therefore, for those with ordinary knowledge in the art, various changes and modifications of the present invention should be obvious and easily achievable without departing from the spirit and principles of the present invention.

1 and 2, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a foam composite material 10 for forming a structure by extrusion bonding and shaping is disclosed. As mentioned above, the foam composite material 10 may include a plurality of first foaming particles 100 and a plurality of second foaming particles 200. The first foaming particles 100 may be made of a preset foaming material, and the second foaming particles 200 may include at least part of the preset foaming material.

As mentioned above, when the first foaming particles 100 and the second foaming particles 200 have part of the same preset foaming material, the bonding degree of the foam composite material 10 during extrusion bonding and shaping can be further promoted. In addition, when the finished product made by extrusion bonding and shaping of the composite material 10 is recycled after use, the difficulty and complexity of separate classification and recycling can be reduced or avoided due to the part of the same preset foaming material. In this way, the integrity of the foam composite material 10 during extrusion bonding and shaping and the convenience of recycling can be improved.

Specifically, the preset foaming material can be any material that can be foamed to form a volume expanded structure. For example, the preset foaming material can be expanded polystyrene (EPS) (common name, Styrofoam), expanded polystyrene (EPP), expanded ethylene polymer (EPO) or expanded polyethylene (EPE), etc., but other embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. As described above, the first foaming particles 100 can be made of the preset foaming material, and the second foaming particles 200 can also be made of the preset foaming material, or include part of the preset foaming material and part of other materials.

According to some embodiments, in addition to part of the preset foaming material, the recycled foaming material obtained by recycling the preset foaming material after foaming can be further used to make the second foaming particles 200. In this way, the recyclability of the preset foaming materials can be further improved, thereby reducing the demand and consumption of the raw materials of the preset foaming materials, promoting the recycling of resources, and reducing the environmental problems caused by the disposal and treatment of these products.

As described above, the second foamed pellets 200 may include both the preset foamed material and the recycled foamed material obtained by foaming the preset foamed material. For example, the first foamed pellets 100 may be made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), and the second foamed pellets 200 may also be made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), but the second foamed pellets 200 may include some materials of expanded polystyrene (EPS) directly made from raw materials, and some materials of recycled materials obtained by foaming the expanded polystyrene (EPS).

As mentioned above, the first foaming granules 100 and the second foaming granules 200 can be made of materials having the same chemical structure or chemical formula, so as to improve the integrity of the extrusion bonding and the convenience of recycling. However, in this case, according to some embodiments, although the chemical structure or chemical formula is the same, the second foaming granules 200 may at least contain a portion of recycled materials. In addition, as disclosed above, according to some embodiments, the second foaming granules 200 may also be made of completely new, non-recycled, preset foaming materials, and have the same chemical structure or chemical formula as the first foaming granules 100.

Next, referring to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B , according to one embodiment of the present invention, at least one first section P1 of the first foamed granular material 100 passing through its center C1, such as a geometric center section, may be substantially circular and have a first diameter L1. For example, the first foamed granular material 100 may be substantially a sphere having substantially the first diameter L1. In addition, referring to FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B , according to one embodiment of the present invention, at least one second section P2 of the second foamed granular material 200 passing through its center C2, such as a geometric center section, along its long axis AX1 may be substantially elliptical and have a second diameter L2 on the long axis AX1. For example, the second foamed granular material 200 may be substantially substantially an elliptical sphere. Among them, although there may be some differences between the first foamed particles 100 due to process tolerances and the cross-sectional shape may therefore be circular or nearly circular, and there may be some differences between the second foamed particles 200 due to process tolerances and the cross-sectional shape may therefore be elliptical or nearly elliptical, overall, the second diameter L2 of the second foamed particles 200 on the long axis AX1 is substantially smaller than the first diameter L1 of the first foamed particles 100.

As described above, according to some embodiments, the diameter of the cross section of any second foamed granules 200 passing through the center C2 section thereof may be smaller than the diameter of the cross section of any first foamed granules 100 passing through the center C1 section thereof. Thus, the overall size of the second foamed granules 200 may be smaller than that of the first foamed granules 100.

In addition, according to some embodiments, as shown in FIG4B , the second cross section P2 of the second foamed pellets 200 may have a second diameter L2 on the long axis AX1, and may have a third diameter L3 on the short axis AX2. As above, according to this embodiment, the third diameter L3 may be 1/5 to 2/3 of the second diameter L2.

Next, referring to FIG. 5 , in the foam composite material 10, when the first foamed granules 100 and the second foamed granules 200 defined above are uniformly mixed, the second foamed granules 200 can be filled in the gaps V between the first foamed granules 100. Specifically, the shapes of different first foamed granules 100 are not complementary, and therefore, even in the case of close proximity, gaps V will still be at least partially left between different adjacent first foamed granules 100, and thus the bonding and strength therebetween are reduced. Continuing from the above, the second foamed granules 200 having a second diameter L2 shorter than the first diameter L1 on the long axis AX1 can be filled in the gaps V. As mentioned above, since at least one second cross section P2 passing through the center C2 cross section may be substantially elliptical, the second foamed particles 200 may be further extended and disposed in the void V which is not formed into a circular or spherical shape.

In detail, the lengths of the first foamed beads 100 relative to the center C1 may be isotropic, while the lengths of the second foamed beads 200 relative to the center C2 may not be isotropic at least on the major axis AX1 and the minor axis AX2, and the first foamed beads 100 have a larger diameter and volume than the second foamed beads 200. Therefore, the gaps V between the adjacent first foamed beads 100 that are difficult to be filled by other first foamed beads 100 can be more easily filled by the second foamed beads 200. As mentioned above, by filling the second foamed beads 200 in the gaps V, the density of the overall foam composite material 10 can be further improved.

In addition, according to some embodiments, the overall density and local density of the foam composite material 10 can be further adjusted by respectively configuring the density of the first foam pellets 100 and the second foam pellets 200. For example, although the first foam pellets 100 and the second foam pellets 200 can be made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), the density of the second foam pellets 200 can be different from the density of the first foam pellets 100. For example, the density of the second foam pellets 200 can be greater than the density of the first foam pellets 100. Thus, when the structure is made by extrusion bonding and shaping, the strength of the junction of the first foamed particles 100 can be strengthened and stabilized while the main body composed of the first foamed particles 100 is as light as possible, or when the second foamed particles 200 include recycled foaming materials, a higher density configuration can be used to compensate for the unexpected defects of the recycled foaming materials. Based on the above, according to different embodiments, the density of the first foamed particles 100 and the density of the second foamed particles 200 can be adjusted based on demand, design, cost and material, so that the strength, density, bonding degree and weight of the final product meet expectations.

Furthermore, for the foam composite material 10, based on the respective density allocation of the first foam pellets 100 and the second foam pellets 200, the weight proportion of the second foam pellets 200 can be 5%~95%. Among them, if recycled foaming material is included, the weight proportion of the recycled foaming material for each second foam pellet 200 can be 5%~95%. That is, each second foam pellet 200 can contain 95%~5% of the preset foaming material, and can contain 5%~95% of the recycled foaming material. In addition, different second foam pellets 200 may also contain different proportions of preset foaming materials and recycled foaming materials. In addition, according to some embodiments, in order to improve the recycling of resources or comply with relevant environmental protection regulations, for the foam composite material 10, the weight proportion of the recycled foaming material can be greater than 5%.

Next, the packaging cushioning material 1000 of the structure made of the foam composite material 10 will be further described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8 .

As shown in FIG. 6 , according to some embodiments, the foam composite material 10 may be installed in a mold M having a predetermined shape, and may be subjected to a processing procedure 500 such as extrusion bonding and shaping, or even steam heating to slightly melt the surface thereof. Thus, referring to FIG. 7 , the foam composite material 10 may be formed into a structure O having a predetermined shape by being restricted by the mold M. The structure O may maintain the predetermined shape, and may thus be used as a packaging buffer material 1000 for packaging, carrying or protecting a specific object.

As described above, a packaging cushioning material 1000 according to the present embodiment may be a structure O formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the foam composite material 10 of each of the above embodiments. Therefore, referring to FIG8 which shows an enlarged schematic diagram of a partial area R of FIG7 , the packaging cushioning material 1000 may include a plurality of first particles 100′ formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the first foaming particles 100, and a plurality of second particles 200′ formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the second foaming particles 200. As described above, each first particle 100' in the structure O is bonded to other first particles 100', and a plurality of first gaps V1 not filled by the first particles 100' may exist between the first particles 100' bonded to each other in the structure O. Each first gap V1 may be formed between adjacent portions of the first particles 100'. For example, each first gap V1 may be formed between closely bonded adjacent portions of the first particles 100'. As described above, the second particles 200' may be further filled in each of the first gaps V1.

As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 , in the packaging cushioning material 1000 formed by extrusion bonding and shaping, the first particles 100′ and the second particles 200′ may be different in shape from the original first foamed particles 100 and the second foamed particles 200. Specifically, due to the extrusion bonding and shaping, the original first foamed particles 100 and the second foamed particles 200 may have at least partial deformation after becoming the first particles 100′ and the second particles 200′. In addition, in some embodiments, if further heated, melted or foamed, the original first foamed particles 100 and the second foamed particles 200 may even further expand and squeeze and deform each other after becoming the first particles 100′ and the second particles 200′. Thus, the second particle 200', which is not isotropic at least in the long axis and the short axis relative to the center, can be squeezed in the first gap V1 between the first particles 100' and can be more easily extended to the gap deeper in the first gap V1, such as but not limited to the gap with a sharp corner. Therefore, by filling the second particle 200' between the first particles 100', the density of the overall packaging buffer material 1000 can be increased, and the integrity, stability and protection of the finished packaging buffer material 1000 can be improved. In addition, the packaging buffer material 1000 manufactured in this way can reduce or avoid the possibility of peeling or breaking due to impact or pressure, or even contamination or pollution of the packaging object.

Furthermore, according to different embodiments, the density of the original first foaming granules 100 and the second foaming granules 200 can be selectively configured to be different, so that the density of the first granules 100' formed at last is different from the density of the second granules 200'. For example, the density of the original second foaming granules 200 can be selectively configured to be greater than the density of the first foaming granules 100, so that the density of the second granules 200' formed at last is greater than the density of the first granules 100'. In addition, by configuring the above density, the weight proportion of the second granules 200' to the packaging buffer material 1000 can be 5% to 95%.

As mentioned above, since the packaging cushioning material 1000 is made based on the foam composite material 10 of each of the above-mentioned embodiments, and therefore, a person with general knowledge in the relevant technical field should be able to understand some properties of the packaging cushioning material 1000 from the above-mentioned description of the foam composite material 10. For example, the first particles 100' can be made of a preset foaming material, and the second particles 200' can respectively include at least a portion of the preset foaming material. Among them, the preset foaming material can be, for example but not limited to, expanded polystyrene (EPS), expanded polystyrene (EPP), expanded ethylene polymer (EPO) or expanded polyethylene (EPE). In addition, the second particles 200' can include a preset foaming material and a recycled foaming material that is recycled and remade after the preset foaming material is foamed.

As mentioned above, when the second particles 200' include recycled foaming materials, the weight proportion of the recycled foaming materials for each of the second particles 200' can be 5% to 95%. In addition, according to some embodiments, by configuring the relative density ratio of the first particles 100' and the second particles 200', the weight proportion of the recycled foaming materials for the packaging cushioning material 1000 can be greater than 5%. In this way, a high degree of utilization of recycled foaming materials can be achieved, thereby improving the recycling of resources, and further improving the environmental protection of the overall packaging cushioning material 1000 while further enhancing the stability. As mentioned above, since the source of the default foaming material is mainly plastic material, in today's increasingly global plastic reduction issue, the foaming composite material 10 and the packaging cushioning material 1000 made therefrom according to this embodiment can further achieve the purpose of plastic reduction and comply with production-related environmental regulations formulated by various places, thereby promoting the development of a circular economy.

In summary, the foamed composite material and the packaging cushioning material made therefrom according to the various embodiments of the present invention can have better density, integrity, reliability and cleanliness, and can be configured to be applied to more stably package, carry and protect predetermined objects.

The above descriptions are only some of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that the present invention can be subjected to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and principles of the present invention. A person with ordinary knowledge in the relevant technical field should understand that the present invention is defined by the scope of the attached patent application, and that various possible substitutions, combinations, modifications and conversions are within the scope of the present invention as defined by the scope of the attached patent application in accordance with the intent of the present invention.

10: Foam composite material 100: First foam pellet 100’: First pellet 200: Second foam pellet 200’: Second pellet 500: Processing procedure 1000: Packaging buffer material AX1: Long axis AX2: Short axis C1: Center C2: Center L1: First diameter L2: Second diameter L3: Third diameter M: Mold O: Structure P1: First section P2: Second section R: Local area V: Void V1: First gap

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a foam composite material composed of a plurality of first foaming particles and a plurality of second foaming particles according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a foamed composite material according to another embodiment of the present invention.

3A and 3B are schematic diagrams showing the shape and size of the cross section of the first foamed pellet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4A and 4B are schematic diagrams showing the shape and size of the cross section of the second foamed pellet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG5 is a schematic diagram showing a second foamed composite material according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which the second foamed composite material is filled in the gap between the first foamed composite materials.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of processing a foamed composite material to form a structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a packaging cushioning material made by extruding, bonding and shaping a foamed composite material according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG8 is a schematic diagram showing the relative configuration of first particles and second particles formed by first foamed particles and second foamed particles, respectively, in a packaging cushioning material according to an embodiment of the present invention.

without

10: Foam composite material

100: First foaming pellets

200: Second foaming pellets

Claims (17)

A foam composite material for forming a structure by extrusion bonding and shaping, comprising: a plurality of first foam particles, at least one first section through the central section of which is circular or nearly circular, and has a first diameter; and a plurality of second foam particles, at least one second section through the central section along the long axis of which is elliptical or nearly elliptical, and has a second diameter on the long axis, wherein the second diameter is smaller than the first diameter, and wherein the first foam particles are respectively made of a preset foam material, and the second foam particles respectively contain at least part of the preset foam material; and wherein, in the foam composite material, when the first foam particles and the second foam particles are mixed, the second foam particles are filled in the gaps between the first foam particles. The foam composite material as described in claim 1, wherein the density of the second foamed particles is different from the density of the first foamed particles. The foam composite material as described in claim 2, wherein the density of the second foamed particles is greater than the density of the first foamed particles. The foam composite material as described in claim 1, wherein the preset foam material is expanded polystyrene (EPS), expanded polystyrene (EPP), expanded ethylene polymer (EPO) or expanded polyethylene (EPE). The foam composite material as described in claim 1, wherein the second foam pellets include the preset foam material and a recycled foam material obtained by recycling the preset foam material after foaming. The foam composite material as described in claim 5, wherein the weight ratio of the recycled foam material to each of the second foam pellets is 5% to 95%. The foam composite material as described in claim 5, wherein the weight ratio of the recycled foam material to the foam composite material is 5% to 90%. The foam composite material as described in claim 1, wherein the weight ratio of the second foamed particles to the foam composite material is 5% to 95%. The foam composite material as described in claim 1, wherein the second cross section of the second foam pellets has the second diameter on the long axis and a third diameter on the short axis, and wherein the third diameter is 1/5 to 2/3 of the second diameter. A packaging buffer material, which is a structure formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the foam composite material as described in claim 1, and comprises: a plurality of first particles, which are formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the first foam particles; and a plurality of second particles, which are formed by extruding, bonding and shaping the second foam particles, and wherein each first particle in the structure is bonded to other first particles, wherein there are a plurality of first gaps between the first particles bonded to each other in the structure, each first gap is formed between adjacent parts of the first particles, and each first gap is smaller than each first particle, and wherein the second particles in the structure are filled in each first gap. The packaging buffer material as described in claim 10, wherein the density of the second particles is different from the density of the first particles. The packaging buffer material as described in claim 11, wherein the density of the second particles is greater than the density of the first particles. The packaging buffer material as described in claim 10, wherein the first particles are respectively made of a preset foaming material, and the second particles respectively contain at least part of the preset foaming material, and the preset foaming material is expanded polystyrene (EPS), expanded polystyrene (EPP), expanded ethylene polymer (EPO) or expanded polyethylene (EPE). The packaging buffer material as described in claim 13, wherein the second particles include the preset foaming material and a recycled foaming material obtained by recycling the preset foaming material after foaming. The packaging buffer material as described in claim 14, wherein the weight ratio of the recycled foam material to each of the second particles is 5% to 95%. As described in claim 14, the packaging cushioning material, wherein the weight ratio of the recycled foaming material to the packaging cushioning material is 5% to 90%. The packaging buffer material as described in claim 10, wherein the weight ratio of the second particles to the packaging buffer material is 5% to 95%.

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