Patent ID: 7469459

Claim:
A method for sealing, baffling or reinforcing, comprising: providing a rigid polymeric porous container, the porous container having an upper wall and a lower wall and one or more side walls extending about the outer perimeter of the upper wall and the lower wall, the one or more side walls providing a plurality of openings such that the one or more side walls have a transmittance percentage of at least 60%, the openings being configured so that upon being heated and during expansion an expandable material flows through the openings; containing the expandable material within the porous container in the internal open space, the expandable material being provided as a plurality of pellets, the pellets being large enough to prevent passage through the plurality of openings while substantially in a solid state prior to expansion, the container having a closable opening for receiving the plurality of pellets and thereby surrounding the plurality of pellets; locating the porous container and the expandable material within a cavity of a structure of an automotive vehicle; activating the pellets of expandable material such that at least a portion of the material expands and flows during expansion through the one or more openings, combine with other pellets and contacts and adheres to walls of the structure.