Flexible polyurethane foams based on 100% renewably sourced polyols

Abstract

Since polyol is one of the major components in polyurethane foam synthesis, introducing renewably sourced polyols in the foam formulation leads to materials with high renewable carbon content. A series of flexible polyurethane foams with variations in polyol composition were synthesized with castor oil based Lupranol Balance ® 50 polyether polyol and corn based polytrimethylene ether glycol mixtures. Water was used as the unique and eco-friendly blowing agent. The effect of the relative amount of each polyol on the structure and properties was analyzed by optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, tensile and compressive tests, dynamic mechanical analysis and atomic force microscopy. The average molecular weight and hydroxyl number of the polyol components showed to influence the foaming reaction and hence the structure and properties of the polyurethane foam. The newly developed peak force quantitative nano-mechanics technique was used to map the elastic modulus values of foam cell struts and it seemed to be adequate to assess the purity of the different phases.

Flexible polyurethane foams modified with biobased polyols: Synthesis and physical‐chemical characterization

“…The hydroxyl isocyanate reaction gradually polymerizes isocyanates and polyols and builds up molecular weight. At a critical conversion, the entire system crosses the thermodynamic boundary of a miscible system, and phase separation occurs . The resulting polymer is a segmented block copolymer with domains that are rich in either polyurea segments or polyol segments .…”

“…Flexible polyurethane foams (FPs) belong to a well‐known class of polymeric materials that are widely used in daily applications such as furnishings, transportation, packaging cushioning, and automotive seating . At present, FPs are also gaining great interest in novel areas such as biomedicine, intelligent materials, and nanocomposites . These foams offer degrees of comfort, protection, and utility not matched by any other single cushioning material.…”

“…Nowadays, the global production of FPs uses polyols mainly derived from petrochemical raw materials. Consequently, the replacement of these components by more ecofriendly materials is a challenge that should be overcome not only because of uncertainty about the cost and availability of petroleum in the future but also because of human desires to obtain environmental advantages that originate in the use of renewable resources …”

The unique activity of catalyst in the epoxidation of soybean oil and following reaction of epoxidized product with bisphenol A

“…Application of natural oils for modification and synthesis of different polymers has also a chance to become an answer to higher expectations standing in front of novel polymer materials. Triglycerides from modified vegetable oils are used as renewable raw materials for preparation and modification of different polymers, such as: polyesters (Chowdhury et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2013;Liua et al, 2014), polyamides (Martino et al, 2014;Mohameda et al, 2014), polyurethanes (Datta and Głowińska, 2014;Ji et al, 2015;Kairytė and Vėjelis, 2015;Kong et al, 2013;Sonnenschein et al, 2013;Ugarte et al, 2014;Zieleniewska et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2014) or organic-inorganic hybrid materials (Haq et al, 2008;Mansor et al, 2013;Riaz et al, 2014). There are already well known applications for polymers of various oils such as soybean, linseed, sunflower, canola, rapeseed, castor, coriander or olive.…”

Recent Advancement in Plant Oil Derived Polyol‐Based Polyurethane Foam for Future Perspective: A Review

“…Soybean oil, castor oil, palm oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, and rapeseed oil are abundantly available plant oils and they have higher unsaturated fatty acid content, and hence they can be hydroxyl functionalized easily using various methods. Among them, castor oil has naturally hydroxyl functionality, hence it can be utilized directly for foam fabrication without modification . The global market of the natural oil based polyol is increasing continuously, which indicates the shifting of current industries toward biobased renewable resources for reducing high consumption of petroleum‐based materials .…”