Effects of composition and temperature of initial mixture on the formation and properties of polyurethane foam

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to optimize the initial conditions of the molding process of a multicomponent mixture into a refrigerator cabinet. Polyurethane foaming has been studied with different starting compositions and temperatures of the initial mixture. The kinetic mechanism has involved four reactions and species species. Using a standard recipe, the chemical kinetics and the numerical implementation have been first validated against the experimental values of the filling time and the density of the final foam. Thereafter, 11,763 different initial conditions are calculated. The results put in evidence that the filling time can be reduced without any significant change in the precursors of the rigidity of the foam. The final temperature of the foam has always remained lower than the limiting temperature so that thermal material deformations in the walls of the cabinet can be avoided. Increasing the physical blowing agent mass fraction beyond the standard recipe does not appear to be a useful option.

A Review of Research on the Effect of Temperature on the Properties of Polyurethane Foams

“…The results of mechanical properties tests showed that both tensile strength and modulus of polyurethane foams materials gradually decreased with the increase in preheating temperature. Özdemir [ 56 ] used different proportions of the initial mixture and initial mixture temperature (20–45 °C) for polyurethane foams foaming and the results showed that a higher initial mixture temperature can significantly reduce polyurethane foams filling time and improve foaming uniformity.…”

Understanding the effect of processing temperature and carbon nanotube addition on the viscoelastic response of polyurethane foams

“…The foaming of PU occurs due to the release of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) formed by reaction between isocyanate and methyl formate. [50][51][52][53][54] Moreover, the products of primary reactions react with isocyanate to produce several secondary products [55][56][57][58] shown in chemical reactions summarized Figure 2.…”