How is EPS Expanded?
EPS arrives at APTCO as small beads in 2,205 lb containers. When controlled heat is applied to the beads they expand to the required density. How much and how long heat is applied determines the final density of the expanded beads. APTCO takes special care in this part of the process to try and make every bead the same density by controlling the process and minimizing variation in the process. If this is not done properly heavy boxes and light boxes will result from the same mold. APTCO knows that its customers count on every box to be capable to handle full load of three pallets of grapes, so we precisely control the weight of the box.
How is EPS Molded?
After EPS is expanded it is dried and stabilized in silos. APTCO also takes care to control this process to minimize variation and deliver a consistently aged bead to the molding machine. The molding process has four parts, filling the mold with expanded beads, heating and fusing the beads into one solid mass, cooling the mass into a rigid part and ejecting the part. APTCO has all single cavity molds to produce the most consistent part. Multi cavity molds produce more parts but sacrifice consistency. A multi cavity mold does not fill the same amount in each cavity, the steam cooking process can not be identical for each cavity, and the cooling of the mold will be slightly different for each cavity. All APTCO molds are the same and all molding machines are the identical. The result of minimizing variation throughout the process is a consistent part from mold to mold, cycle to cycle, day to day and month to month.