Foaming Agents & Density Modifiers
Engineered foam architecture for lightweight, dimensionally stable board cores.
Board weight is decided in the foam generator, not in the mixer. Our alkyl ether sulfate and alpha-olefin sulfonate surfactants — paired with a foam stabilizer — give you predictable bubble size distribution from 80 to 250 µm and the stable / unstable foam blends that today's ultralight boards require.
A practical board foam is a controlled instability. 'Stable' foam (sodium lauryl sulfate, narrow bubble size) gives load-bearing voids that survive into the set core. 'Unstable' foam (sodium alpha-olefin sulfonate, broader distribution) collapses partially into interconnected channels that improve nail-pull and reduce density gradients. Modern ultralight cores layer both.
Foam volume, half-life, and bubble size are the three knobs. Half-life under 90 s collapses before the knife; over 180 s migrates upward and creates a soft top layer. Air-water ratio at the generator is the primary control, surfactant chemistry sets the envelope.