A2: EVA is one of the materials popularly known as expanded rubber or foam rubber. EVA foam is used as padding in equipment for various sports such as ski boots, bicycle saddles, hockey pads, boxing and mixed martial arts gloves and helmets, wakeboard boots, waterski boots, fishing rods and fishing reel handles. It is typically used as a shock absorber in sports shoes, for example. It is used for the manufacture of floats for commercial fishing gear such as purse seine (seine fishing) and gillnets. In addition, because of its buoyancy, EVA has made its way into non-traditional products such as floating eyewear. It is also used in the photovoltaics industry as an encapsulation material for crystalline silicon solar cells in the manufacture of photovoltaic modules. EVA slippers and sandals are popular, being lightweight, easy to form, odorless, glossy, and cheaper compared to natural rubber. In fishing rods, EVA is used to construct handles on the rod-butt end. EVA can be used as a substitute for cork in many applications.
EVA emulsions are polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) copolymers based on vinyl acetate (VAM) internally plastized with vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE). PVAc copolymer are adhesives used in packaging, textile, bookbinding for bonding plastic films, metal surfaces, coated paper and as redispersible powders in plasters and cement renders.
EVA is also used in coatings formulation of good quality interior water-borne paints at 53% primary dispersant.
Hydrolysis of EVA gives ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymer.
Other uses
EVA is used in orthotics, fire safe cigarettes (FSC), surfboard and skimboard traction pads, and for the manufacturing of some artificial flowers. It is used as a cold flow improver for diesel fuel and a separator in HEPA filters. EVA can easily be cut from sheets and molded to shape. It is also used to make thermoplastic mouthguards that soften in boiling water for a user specific fit. It is also used for conditioning and waterproofing leather.[2] Additional uses are in the making of nicotine transdermal patches since the copolymer binds well with other agents to form gel like substances.