PU (polyurethane) raw material has been the core material of the surfboard industry since the 1960s. Polyurethane is a combination of synthetic resin and polyester resin. It is generally considered easier to shape because it has a smaller crystal structure, so it is easier to sand down with fine sandpaper during the shaping process.
Initially, board cutters and surfers liked polyurethane because it was a good responsive surfboard. Because polyurethane has strong bending properties, it is easy to paint or decorate the foam before covering it with fiberglass.
But one of the main limitations of PU (polyurethane) is that it has poor resilience. This means that the strong bending properties that your surfboard originally had will gradually disappear over time, and the surfboard will eventually lose its responsiveness. On the other hand, this type of board absorbs water, which will cause the foam material to fade and then turn yellow over time, and small uneven pits will appear on the surface of the surfboard.
- Advantages-smoother, easier to shape, easier to paint, and cheaper.
- Disadvantages-water absorption, easy to deform due to impact, easy to fade over time, chemical materials are not environmentally friendly.
- Pros-Lighter, more durable, less toxic than PU blanks and resins, better environmental protection, and more buoyant.
- Cons-Harder, harder to shape, harder to paint.
After the main supplier of polystyrene surfboard foam went out of business, Clark Foam developed EPS in 2005 when the surfing community was in urgent need of a foam core alternative for shaping surfboards: EPS.
It is also more buoyant than polyurethane. In the final shaping step, epoxy resin and fiberglass are applied to the expanded polystyrene foam, and a very light, buoyant, and hard foam core surfboard is completed. This advantage makes the surfboard more durable and less prone to damage.
Board cutters found that EPS material is difficult to shape because of its large openings. On the other hand, surfers found that EPS surfboards have poor bendability compared to PU surfboards, resulting in EPS boards being less reactive than traditional PU boards. In addition, surfboard graphic designers believe that it is difficult to spray or paint expanded polystyrene foam boards due to the poor pattern expression of loose foam.
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