| abstract |
The invention provides heat-expandable microspheres which are little lowered in heat expansion properties such as expansion ratio even when they have been subjected to thermal hysteresis prior to heat expansion, a process for the production of the same, and uses thereof. Heat-expandable microspheres which are each composed of a shell made from a thermoplastic resin and a component encapsulated therein, wherein the encapsulated component comprises a blowing agent having a boiling point not exceeding the softening point of the thermoplastic resin and a gas-escape inhibitor having a boiling point exceeding the softening point of the thermoplastic resin with the amount of the gas-escape inhibitor being 1wt% or above but below 30wt% based on the encapsulated component and the mean particle diameter is 1 to 100μm. |