The copolymerization of styrene with furfuryl methacrylate (FMA) led to a very significant molecular weight increase and to branching, as measured by standard gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and tri-angle laser light-scattering GPC. This increase was also confirmed by dynamic mechanical spectroscopy. Extensional viscosity analysis showed that styrene-co-2-furfuryl methacrylate copolymers exhibited strain hardening at low strain rates. This strain hardening is explained as a result of the copolymers' polydispersity features rather than a result of their topology. The presence of strain hardening in extensional viscosity experiments is believed to be advantageous in the production of foamed materials with lower densities. A reduction in density was corroborated by foaming experiments on a development extrusion line. The mechanism of density lowering was related more to cell growth than to increased nucleation. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.