Guar gum improved electrolyte compatibility. These changes in properties result in increased use in different fields, like textile printing, explosives, and oil-water fracturing applications. Guar molecules have a tendency to aggregate during the hydraulic fracturing process, mainly due to intermolecular hydrogen bonding. These aggregates are detrimental to oil recovery because they clog the fractures, restricting the flow of oil. Cross-linking guar polymer chains prevents aggregation by forming metal – hydroxyl complexes. The first crosslinked guar gels were developed in the late ‘60’s. Several metal additives have been used for crosslinking, among them are chromium, aluminum, antimony, zirconium, and the more commonly used,
Foam including deep-sea and space applications. One particular syntactic foam employs shape memory polymer as its matrix, enabling the foam to take on the characteristics of shape memory resins and composite materials; i.e., it has the ability to be reshaped repeatedly when heated above a certain temperature and cooled. Shape memory foams have many possible applications, such as dynamic structural support, flexible foam core, and expandable foam fill. "Integral skin foam", also known as "self-skin foam", is a type of foam with a high-density skin and a low-density core. It can be formed in an "open-mold process" or a "closed-mold process".