Ever since Styrofoam’s introduction to the world during the early days of the Dow Company, it has lost its specificity because of its relative similarity to another form of polystyrene: the expanded polystyrene. Although the specificity of the name has been lost, it still retains the nomenclatural patent that the Dow Company possesses, and also its distinction to its close sister. Expanded polystyrene is usually utilized by virtue of its handiness and ease of management. It is thinner, and when damaged, can easily be cleaned up. But extruded, or “foamed”, polystyrene, i.e. Styrofoam, is larger, and can be chipped off when damaged. It is literally a form of foam and can contain much more heat than normal polystyrene.
Hence the bulkiness of Styrofoam can be attributed to its larger scope of usage than expanded polystyrene. Styrofoam can be used in a much better way in packaging products since it has a softer surface than expanded polystyrene. It is also substantially thicker, given its nature as a foam compared to the flatness and fragility of expanded polystyrene. Many appliances use extruded polystyrene instead of expanded polystyrene, given the lesser protection given by expanded polystyrene. Refrigerators, televisions, laptops, electric fans, and many other household appliances use extruded polystyrene in order to protect them from physical traumas that may be encountered during deliveries and as such.
Hence, Styrofoam must be distinguished from its sister material. Expanded polystyrene is way too different from the more useable and more flexible uses that extruded polystyrene offers. Dow Company is the one who owns the name of the material which was discovered more than a half century ago, and is currently thriving right now despite of the perhaps inadvertent mix-up between the names of the two, similar, but fundamentally different materials. Styrofoam is one of the rare achievements of mankind which falls under the patent of a particular company.
