You don't need to be a foam expert — that's our job. Thirteen materials, 15 to 600 kg/m³: standard structural foams, engineering plastics, soft elastomers and compostable beads. Tell us your strength, weight, temperature and cost targets and we will match the material.
Every material below is something DBM actually delivers. We choose the one that best fits your part.
This section ranks all 13 materials by the property your part cares about most, then charts every performance parameter so the differences show at a glance before you choose.
Start from what matters to you
Performance parameter overview
Five core production foams
| Property | EPP | EPS | EPO | Beaded EPE | EVA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | Molded PP bead foam | Molded PS bead foam | PS/polyolefin composite bead foam | Molded PE bead foam | Cross-linked closed-cell EVA |
| Density range | 20–66 kg/m³ | 15–60 kg/m³ | 16–33 kg/m³ | 20–74 kg/m³ | 30–50 kg/m³ |
| Compression strength | 50–325 kPa @10% | 60–430 kPa @10% | 90–160 kPa @10% | 44.8–241.3 kPa @10% | 39–50 kPa @25% |
| Tensile strength | 420–1350 kPa | 130–900 kPa | 280–530 kPa | 275.8–827.4 kPa | 520–749 kPa |
| Service temperature | −40°C to +100°C long-term · +120°C short-term | up to +75°C long-term · +85°C short-term | up to +80°C long-term | up to +80°C long-term | up to +65°C long-term |
| Pick it when… | The part is handled again and again and must survive it | Cost and insulation matter most, one-way shipping | You need firm support at minimum weight | The part must flex, stay dry, and be tuned by density | The foam touches a curved surface, seals, or is squeezed daily |
Tell us your operating requirements (temperature, strength, flame retardance, food contact…) and we pick out the materials that will work.
Hard-to-mold materials are what DBM does. The table below shows what each material family demands from the process, and what DBM covers.
| Material family | What it demands | Conventional process | DBM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Specialty engineering plastics | Very high melt point, high process pressure | Cannot run | Yes |
| 02 · Soft elastomers | Precise steam temperature and pressure, narrow window | Limited | Yes |
| 03 · Standard structural foams | Low-to-medium pressure steam | Runs | Yes |
| 04 · Bio-based & biodegradable | Low forming temperature, 100–115°C | — | Yes |
| EPE pearl foam | Extruded sheet and roll, converted by cutting or lamination — no steam molding, outside the window above | — | Yes |
Where a base material lacks a property, DBM adds it through modification or reinforcement. Below are the common ones and how far each goes.
Applicable in principle to every material on this page — including the ones scoring 2 on the weathering scale. Outdoor service is a formulation question, not a material verdict.
Limits: the carbon-black route is black only; additives can affect nucleation and cell structure, so a sample run is required.
On EPP this is a shipped capability across the full 20–66 kg/m³ range, cushioning and recyclability intact. For other materials we confirm feasibility case by case before quoting.
Limits: FR loading affects mechanical properties; test reports supplied with the grade confirmation.
None of the thirteen materials is intrinsically dissipative, so ESD is always a modification route. Give us the target surface resistivity and we will work back from it.
Limits: conductive carbon black is black only; target resistivity must come from you.
Colour is something DBM does too: beyond natural, parts can be matched to a brand colour or colour-coded by production line. Below is the in-stock dyed bead palette, with codes.