The role of nanocrystalline cellulose on the microstructure of foamed bio-based polyurethane nanocomposites

CORDERO, A.; PERUZZO, P.J.; AMALVY, J.I.; FORTUNATI, E.; KENNY, J.M.; CHIACCHIARELLI, L.M.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; COMAT2015 - 6th International Conference on Science and Technology of Composite Materials; 2015

ITPN, INTECIN, INIFTA, INTI, INTEMA, FI-UBA

 Nanocrystallinecellulose (NCC), obtained from the sulphuric acid hydrolysis ofmicrocrystalline cellulose (MCC), was used to synthesize polyurethane foams(PUF) from a functionalized castor oil polyol. At a 0.5 wt. % of NCC, theapparent density changed considerably as a function of the formulation indexand the geometry of the cells in addition to a change of its anisotropy. SEManalysis corroborated that the incorporation of NCC caused a relevant change inthe fracture surface of NCC reinforced PUF. Both the compressive strength (σc) and elasticmodulus (Ec)showed an increase after the NCC incorporation but to an extent dependent onthe index of the formulation. Finally, the chemical structure, measured bymeans of FTIR of the PUF was modified by the incorporation of NCC by a changeof the relative amount of urea, urethane and isocyanurate groups present on themicrostructure.