Polyurethane Composites Synthesized Using Natural Oil-Based Polyols and Sisal Fibers

MICHALOWSKI, S.; MOSIEWICKI, M. A.; KURANSKA, M.; ARANGUREN, M. I.; PROCIAK, A.

Journal of Renewable Materials

Scrivener Publishing

Año: 2017

2164-6325

Elastomeric polyurethanes were prepared from modification of a reference polyurethane system with bio-based polyols synthesized using rapeseed or palm oils. The reference material was modified by replacement of the commercial polyol by 10% of bio-polyols and also by addition of sisal fibers up to 5 wt. %. The higher functionality of the bio-polyols increases the crosslinking density of the networks and this is reflected by an increase in hardness and a decrease in water absorption. The effect of the sisal fibers improved the mechanical and thermo-mechanical properties mainly for the system with rapeseed oil because of good dispersion and strong interaction fiber-matrix. The system containing palm oil polyol corresponded to an initial formulation of high viscosity and consequently, the resulting composites presented lower densities than the theoretically expected ones. These results are associated to fiber dispersion problems in the initial reactive mixture.