Heat-expandable microspheres and application thereof

Abstract

Heat-expandable microspheres containing a thermoplastic resin shell and a thermally-vaporizable blowing agent encapsulated therein. The thermoplastic resin is a polymer of a polymerizable component containing acrylonitrile, methacrylonitrile and acrylate ester and which satisfies specific conditions 1 and 2, where Condition 1: the amount of the acrylonitrile (A)<the amount of the methacrylonitrile (B), and Condition 2: the total amount of the acrylonitrile (A), the methacrylonitrile (B) and the acrylate ester (C) in the polymerizable component ranges from 61 to 100 wt %. Also disclosed are hollow resin particles manufactured by expanding the heat-expandable microspheres, a composition containing a base component and at least one selected from the heat-expandable microspheres and the hollow resin particles, and a formed article manufactured by forming or molding the composition.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.