Synthesis and Characterization of Polyurethane Rigid Foams from Soybean Oil-Based Polyol and Glycerol

ALTUNA, F.I.; FERNANDEZ D'ARLAS, B.; CORCUERA, M.A.; ECEIZA, A.; ARANGUREN, M.I.; STEFANI, P. M.

Journal of Renewable Materials

Scrivener Publishing

Año: 2016 vol. 4 p. 275 - 284

Mixtures of biomass-derived polyols were used to synthesize rigid polyurethane (PU) foams. A commercialpolymerized methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pMDI) was used as crosslinker, and distilled water servedas foaming agent. The morphology and mechanical properties of foams with different glycerol and watercontents were compared in order to evaluate the most suitable formulations. The rigid foams with higherwater contents had larger and more anisotropic cells, explaining their lower density. Compressive moduliranged from about 2.5 MPa to above 20 MPa and collapse stresses from 55 kPa to more than 1 MPa fordensities between 54 and 143 kg/m3. Densification strain did not depend on the density or on the compositionof the polymeric matrix. Moreover, results shown herein demonstrate that an increase in the glycerol contentleads to an increase in the required pMDI for the synthesis of the PU, but with a negligible change in themechanical properties of the prepared foams.