From gas release to foam synthesis, the second breath of blowing agents

The increasing concern about the environmental impact of physical blowing agents (PBAs) favours the use of chemical blowing agents (CBAs) to replace controversial PBAs. Blowing agents are key compounds in order to obtain polymer foams. Indeed, blowing agents are crucial additives that release gas needed to blow polymer foams. CBA compounds have been widely studied in recent decades, and today if new CBA are studied, one of the challenges remains to adapt the use of CBA to new polymers or new formulations. Only a handful of books present different CBAs commercially available but in these documents, the presentation of CBAs is not enough complete to understand potential or limits. Thus, our work is focused on the most common, both inorganic and organic chemical blowing agents and highlights the specifications of these CBAs, with their advantages and drawbacks, and finally presents promising perspectives.