Promotional products are a vital part of any business’s marketing strategy. Not only do promotional gifts help nurture a positive attitude on the part of the consumer towards the business concerned; they are also retained far longer by consumers than, say, an advertisement in a magazine or newspaper. As with all marketing drives, however, it is important to balance quality of product against cost. One solution often favoured by marketers is to organise the bespoke manufacture of foam products.

Foam is an incredibly versatile and cost-effective medium to choose for the production of promotional items. Not only is there a wide choice of flexible foams (such as certain polyurethane or PU foams, including sponge foam) and rigid foams (such as certain polyethylene or PE foams, including EVA); there is also virtually no limit to the range of shapes and sizes that can be produced using foam. UK businesses have in recent years, for example, commissioned promotional products as diverse as stress balls, large sponge hands, hats, and dice.

Foam products are doubly attractive in that they can be made in almost any colour required; thus enabling the reproduction of corporate colours, or colours that are likely to appeal to consumers.

The main reason for choosing foam though from a promotional angle has to be the ease with which logos and other messages or designs can be printed on to foam products as part of the overall manufacturing process.

At Technical Foam Services our experts will be happy to convert any concept quickly and cost-effectively into quality promotional foam products.

The spirit of invention is thriving in the UK, with a considerably large number of successful patents granted each year. However, as per the quote attributed to Thomas Edison that ‘genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration’, this track record also relies on the skill, enthusiasm and hard work of those companies that can offer assistance in the production of quality prototypes.

The importance of a prototype cannot be underestimated for an inventor, as both a demonstration tool and a crucial means of attracting additional interest and investment.

Prototypes can be made in many different ways and with many different materials, including wood, metal and injection-moulded plastic. Many patent applicants however are increasingly finding that a more versatile and cheaper source of prototype material lies in engineered foam.

The beauty of foams is that there are so many variations to choose from. These many variations, however, generally fall under two main categories: flexible foams, or open cell foams – those that allow air to escape when squeezed, and which refill with air when released; and rigid foams, or closed cell foams – those that trap air or other gasses inside and which do not yield when force is applied.

As well as being strong but lightweight, foams have the added capability of being transformed quickly and accurately into an almost infinite number of shapes and sizes.

At Technical Foam Services, we are a UK foam company that offers in-house state of the art foam conversion and engineering facilities to quickly transform your ideas into three-dimensional prototypes.

The natural sponge has been recognised over the centuries for its unique combination of delicacy, absorbency and powerful cleansing abilities. Today, successful environmental initiatives mean that consumers can again make buying a natural sponge a responsible option.

Natural sponges vary in quality from the honeycomb sponge at the high end of the market to the grass and sea wool sponges at the lower end. Whilst different grades of natural sponge lend themselves to tasks ranging from exfoliating to make-up removal and even decorating, what they all share in common is a remarkable inner strength and durability that belies their inherent softness. A natural sponge will also soak up and hold water extremely effectively, yet be capable of being thoroughly cleaned right down to its deepest pores.

Cheaper synthetic alternatives to natural sponges, such as cellulose sponges, do of course perform perfectly adequately as bath sponges and cleaning sponges. It is also worth noting that cellulose sponges are biodegradable since cellulose itself is essentially specially processed plant matter.

However, synthetic sponges cannot hope to match a natural sponge as the ideal choice for bathing and cleaning.

The good news is that there are now many companies that farm the seas in a managed, responsible way; these companies have a policy of always leaving the sponge roots intact so that new sponges are guaranteed to grow.

When it comes to choosing between natural and synthetic sponges, we at Technical Foam Services are best placed to offer expert advice and to supply a full range of high quality managed sponges.

Synthetic rubbers are often preferred in industry to natural latex rubber as they possess many additional attributes, several of which can be controlled during manufacture. Furthermore, many businesses find that synthetic rubbers in the form of rubber foams meet their needs even more closely.

Synthetic rubbers provide a good match for natural rubber in that, like the latter, they are elastomers; in other words they can be stretched but will then subsequently resume their previous shape and size more or less intact. Synthetic rubbers, however, are often a great improvement on natural rubber in that they are inherently stronger and more resilient, as well as being much more resistant to heat, oil and chemicals.

Rubber foams are widely use throughout industry for these very same reasons.

Neoprene, for example, is highly versatile and resilient rubber foam that is also both waterproof and an excellent source of insulation. Pieces of neoprene are also very easy to stitch or weld together. As such, neoprene can be used effectively in air conditioning ducts; car gaskets and seals; scuba diving suits; and for outdoor weatherproof furnishings.

EPDM rubber foams are similarly resilient and are also particularly favoured for their temperature and weather resistance, EPDM rubber foams also demonstrate an excellent capacity for electric cable insulation.

Nitrile PVC foam’s flame retardant and temperature resistance properties on the other hand make it an ideal material for fuel hoses.

At Technical Foam Services we can supply all major rubber foams in a variety of shapes and sizes, and all at extremely competitive prices.

The importance of safety and quality, as well as fun of course, cannot be underestimated for children’s toys. One of the safest and most successful products used in the manufacture of toys is foam.

Foam comes in various forms, ranging from highly yielding flexible foams to solid foam blocks. The difference between these two extremes often lies in whether the foam falls inside one of the categories of open cell foams (in other words whether the cells or air holes interconnect with one another) or within one of the classes of closed cell foams (where the cells are separated from each other).

Among open cell foams, for example, polyether foams can be ideal for producing soft sponge toys. This is because, firstly, polyether foams offer high tear strength, thereby greatly reducing the chances of a small child being able to break off small pieces and accidentally swallowing or choking on them. Polyether foams are also waterproof and highly resistant to fungicide, making them the perfect option for toys that might be used during bath time.

Closed cell polyester foams on the other hand, in resisting water absorption, make ideal materials for flotation toys of all kinds.

More complex closed cell foam, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), is perfect for producing solid but lightweight toy building blocks. EVA foam has a further advantage in that it is highly resistant to the build up of bacteria.

At Technical Foam Services we pride ourselves in being able to produce foam toys of any shape, size and colour, both quickly and cost-effectively.

Many businesses operating in the fields of design or technological innovation regularly use both flexible foams and rigid foams as versatile and cost-effective media for the construction of prototypes. However, quite often the foam is supplied in very limited, generic formats: as foam blocks; foam sheets; or foam rolls; leaving it to the firms concerned to organise their own cutting and shaping. This can add considerably to a company’s expenses.

Foam cutting is a sophisticated craft, with many different precision shaping methods employed for different types of foam, and for different types of end product. These methods can include automated cutting via a computer programme – known as CNC cutting; the powerful but clean slicing methods of water jet and hot wire cutting; and of course more traditional die-cutting.

Some clients, moreover, will also require particular types of finishing such as printing and embossing on their foam products. These are again specialised activities requiring the right machinery and requisite skill base.

Finding a cost-effective and reliable foam cutting firm to produce machined foam as required can be a long-winded process. A better alternative would be to identify a foam supplier that can not only provide basic foam blocks, sheets and rolls, but can also provide a fully-fledged, precision cutting and shaping service at a reasonable cost.

At Technical Foam Services we provide just such an all-inclusive service, with a team of skilled foam engineers that simply relish the prospect of both advising on and carrying out the production of foam prototypes, and other customised foam products at highly competitive rates.

Memory foam, or more properly Visco-elastic foam, or Visco memory foam, is a highly advanced product originally developed by NASA in the 1960s but which is still exciting the market today.

When pressure and, with some formats, heat such as body warmth, is applied to memory foam it allows the air that is expelled from the compressed cells to move into adjacent cells. Consequently, memory foam automatically adjusts its shape to the precise contours of the body. Moreover, memory foam always eventually reverts back to its original shape after use, regardless of how much pressure has been exerted on the foam, and regardless of how long that pressure has been applied.

Memory foam was first made available commercially in the 1990s as a premium bedding product, particularly benefiting those who had previously suffered from uncomfortable or unsupportive mattresses.

Still used within the bedding sector today, memory foam has also found itself in the service of a whole host of other applications such as computer keyboard wrist supports and specialist medical orthopaedic practices.

Furthermore, often referred to in specialist circles under the collective term of Confor foams, Memory foam is now also exploited for its high impact and shock absorbing properties, making it ideal for uses such as a liner in sports helmets or as a seat padding for aircraft pilots.

Our expert engineers at Technical Foam Services are now ready with all grades of memory foam, and the latest state of the art cutting and shaping technologies, to work with clients to help develop new applications for this sophisticated product.

Foam products are not only there to help make life more comfortable; they also serve a number of industrial and professional functions.

That foam can be a vital tool is glimpsed in its use in everyday domestic activities such as painting and bathing. The foam used in these applications (via pint pad or sponge) is highly absorbent and capable of retaining liquid-based substances; whilst at the same time being flexible enough to release the substance in a controllable way.

The medical profession is a good example of a body that has come to regularly rely on different types of foam, for their ability to retain and release substances as required.

Polyether foams, for example, are used for heat and moisture exchanging (HME) filters. These filters are used during surgery to regulate the temperature of oxygen as it enters the body through respirators. Without such filters the patient could suffer from heat loss, the onset of breathing problems, and a reduced capacity of the lungs to deal with potential sources of infection. PVA foams meanwhile make for excellent absorbers of bacteria when used in wound dressings.

Polyester foams on the other hand are not only highly effective and durable materials for use in air and dust filters, they also, through their capacity to absorb sound waves, serve as excellent acoustic filters for devices such as headphones and microphone windshields.

At Technical Foam Services we can advise on the full range of functions different types of foam can perform; and can supply all types of foam cut to any shape or size in-house.

Some foam products on the market today are not only sought after for their strength, flexibility and low weight, but also as a result of the specialist technologies that have gone into their manufacture. As a result, specialist foams are occupying an increasingly large segment of the market.

One class of specialist foams, for example, has been developed specifically for use in industrial, medical, and aquatic filter applications. Known as reticulated foams, these foam materials are precision-made, demonstrating, among other features, rigidly uniform cell size.

High density polyethylene foams, or PE foams, meanwhile, are employed in situations where a high level of protective packaging is required: for example during the transportation of delicate artistic works or fragile electronic components. Examples of PE foams include Plastazote and Jiffycell.

A burgeoning market has also developed in fire-retardant foams, particularly in areas where a premium is placed on safety, such as building construction, vehicle production, and furniture manufacture. Specialist flame-retardant materials such as black Pyrosorb and Fireseal are used in the production of some of these foams.

Finally, rubber foams such as EPDM, Nitrate PVC and Neoprene, are used in a wide range of applications where secure sealing is required against air and water contamination, such as gaskets and industrial hoses. These specialist foams are also highly tolerant of extreme changes in temperature, whilst Neoprene and PVC Nitrate are further impervious to oil and chemicals.

At Technical Foam Services we can advise further on these and many other foam products that may well offer that specialist solution you are seeking.

Foam products, in their various forms, are such ubiquitous features of everyday life that they can easily be taken for granted. Yet without foam, modern living would be virtually unrecognisable.

Foam is essentially any substance produced with small, regularly placed air holes or ‘cells’. The production of foam is further broken down into two main types: open cell foams and closed cell foams.

In open cell foams the cells are positioned very close to one another, with such close connections generally leading to more malleable, softer foam. In closed cell foams, the cells are more spaced out, resulting in a more solid foam material.

Substances that are frequently used as a basis for the production of foam include polyurethane, polyethylene and polystyrene.
Foam products are favoured in many applications for the following reasons:

• Foam is lightweight and strong but also extremely flexible
• Foam is relatively inexpensive
• Foam is extremely easy to cut and shape from manufactured sheets and blocks.
• Foam enjoys a consistency of texture and quality rarely found in substances sourced directly from nature.
• Foam is waterproof and resistant to corrosion

One does not have to venture far in the world to see the extent to which foam plays such a prominent role in our lives: from paint rollers to bedding; from toys to cleaning sponges, foam is as essential for the householder as it is for industry.

At Technical Foam Services, we can supply a wide range of quality grade foam products both speedily and cost-effectively.