Patent ID: 8475694

Claim:
A method of reinforcing a structure of an article of manufacture, the method comprising: providing an initially solid pellet of expandable material including a first curing agent and having a self supporting characteristic during expansion thereof that is due to the presence of the first curing agent causing partial curing of the expandable material during processing of the pellet, and the inclusion of the following in the expandable material: i) an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer material; and ii) a thixotropic or fibrous filler; injection molding the expandable material into a part; inserting the part into a cavity that is at least partially defined by a structure of the article of manufacture; and activating the expandable material to cure due to the presence of a second coring agent, so that the expandable material expands to a volume that is less than 500% relative to its original unexpanded volume and adheres to walls of the structure and provide structural reinforcement to the structure.