Blowing agents - Expancel® Microspheres

Controlled foaming in temperatures up to 235°C

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When it comes to blowing agents, a controlled foam structure makes your production process go a lot smoother

Not only do Expancel® microspheres expand up to 60 times in volume, they also provide:

  • Highly controlled foaming
  • Closed, uniform cell structure
  • Guards against water penetration
  • Create internal pressure to combat shrinkage

Expancel® microspheres (Expancel® DU, WU, MB, SL , and FG) are the perfect choice as your sole blowing agent or combined with other forms.

Illustration showing how Expancel Microspheres blowing agents can expand up to 60 times in volume when heated without increasing in weight.

Expand Your Possibilities

Unexpanded Expancel® microspheres are exceptional physical blowing agents for a wide range of matrices. They enable significant density reduction even at low addition levels and controlled stable foaming during processing.

The expansion process reduces material density without any chemical reactions, residue, or VOC emissions during expansion.

This means lighter components and reduced material use—delivering substantial cost savings. By optimizing density, Expancel® microspheres help manufacturers do more with less, creating efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective products.

Expancel® microspheres as physical blowing agents are used in many applications today, including shoe soles, wine stoppers, printing inks, wallpaper and weather strips for cars.

When heated, the microspheres expand without any chemical reactions, residue, or VOC emissions.

Reducing material density, enhancing performance

Expancel® microspheres are small spheres encapsulating a gas. When heated, the gas expands while the shell softens, resulting in a dramatic increase in volume —up to 60 times their original size, without increasing weight.

Expancel® microspheres expand within precise temperature ranges, ensuring predictable foaming and dimensional stability during processing. They form a fine, uniform closed-cell structure that delivers customised surface finish, thermal and acoustic insulation for high-quality products.

Shrinkage is controlled by filling voids in molded parts, while improving flow and processability with maintained strength. They also eliminate the need for chemical blowing agents while achieving excellent performance at low viscosities but can also be combined with chemical blowing agents if required.

The expansion process significantly lowers material density, resulting in lighter components and reduced material consumption.

Small spheres, big impact

Weight reduction

Lower density significantly with maintained mechanical properties for lighter, high-performance components.

Cost Efficiency

Achieve desired product volumes using significantly less material, reducing overall production costs

Improved Processability

Precise expansion delivers predictable foaming and stability, with shrinkage controlled during processing

Sustainability

VOC-free expansion and reduced material waste support eco-friendly manufacturing

 Smarter density reduction for efficient manufacturing

Expancel® microspheres are offered in four unexpanded forms each with a range of particle sizes to suit different manufacturing needs.

  • Expancel® DU Dry, Unexpanded microspheres for dry processes where
    heat triggers expansion.
  • Expancel® WU/WUF Wet, unexpanded microspheres for water-based systems;WUF is treated for improved performance.
  • Expancel® MB Masterbatch, unexpanded microspheres mixed with a carrier, for processes requiring slurry form, sometimes with salt.
  • Expancel® SL Slurry, unexpanded microspheres dispersed in water
    pre-mixed into a polymer matrix (e.g., EVA) for easy dosing.

Expancel® microspheres in unexpanded form are used when the processing generates enough heat for the spheres to expand and the matrix allows an expansion.

Compatible with methods such as injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming, and blow molding, microspheres act as an efficient blowing agent in these heat-intensive processes. They enhance processability by lowering viscosity before expansion, improving flow and mold filling, and reducing cycle times—making complex designs easier and more efficient.

Expancel® microspheres is a smart choice for a variety of industries such as automotive, packaging, construction materials, and consumer goods.

 

Expancel Microspheres is an excellent additive in microagglomerated and synthetic wine corks

Featured applications where Expancel® Micropsheres is used

Featured products

Expancel microspheres

Expancel 007 WU 40

Wet cake of unexpanded thermoplastic microspheres used as a blowing agent in civil explosives. It expands at a temperature range of 91-143°C and the particle size is around 40 µm in its expanded form.

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Expancel microspheres

Expancel 920 DU 20

Dry powder of unexpanded thermoplastic microspheres used as a blowing agent in artificial leather, adhesives, weather strips and similar applications. It expands at a temperature range of 118-172°C and has a small particle size around 20 µm in its expanded form.

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Expancel microspheres

Expancel 980 MB 100

Masterbatch of dry, unexpanded thermoplastic microspheres mixed with a carrier and used as a blowing agent in thermoplastics and similar applications. It has a particle size of around 100 µm in its expanded form.

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Show all blowing agent products

Explore customer case stories

Lantor - nonwoven solutions

Cost-effective increases in stiffness, weight reduction and flexibility

Diam - wine corks

By offering designed wine cork solutions wines are kept safe year after year

All Expancel Microspheres downloads

Expancel DU

Specification for our Expancel DU products

Type: Product Information
Language: English
Format: pdf | 463.6 KB
-
Download

Expancel FG

Specification for our Expancel FG products

Type: Product Information
Language: English
Format: pdf | 713.1 KB
-
Download

Expancel WU

Specification for our Expancel WU products

Type: Product Information
Language: English
Format: pdf | 486.1 KB
-
Download
All downloads

 

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Expancel® is a registered trademark of Nouryon in a number of territories worldwide

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