Process for preparing extruded foam bodies

A process for preparing an extruded elongate foam body characterized as having minimal surface defects such as pearls, streaks, foamy appearance and corrugations and having a density of between about 14.4 and about 56.1 kg/m³ which comprises the steps of (A) heat plastifying a mixture of at least one thermoplastic resin and at least one nucleat­ing agent;(B) adding at least one blowing agent selected from the group consisting of chlorodifluoro­methane; 1,1-dichloro-2,2,2-trifluoroethane; 1-chloro-­1,1-difluoroethane; 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane; 1,1-di­chloro-1-fluoroethane; 1-chloro-1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroeth­ane and mixtures of two or more thereof to the mixture;(C) forming a blowable resin mixture by uniformly mixing the blowing agent and the mixture of step (A) in the resin under a pressure sufficient to prevent blowing of the resin;(D) extruding the blowable resin mixture through a die (20), which has a die lip temperature main­tained at about 10°C to about 77°C and into a region (15) wherein the blowable resin mixture expands into a foam body; and(E) cooling (17) the foam body.