Statistical Approach to Custom Catalyst Design For High Density, all Water Blown Urethane Foam

Abstract

The past successes of the urethane industry can be attributed to the contributions of many: equipment designers and manufacturers, raw material and system suppliers, and those innovators who have discovered new uses for polyurethane products. An industry desirous of growth cannot be satisfied solely with past accomplishments. To remain competitive we must seek better ways to improve the quality and value of our products. As we have in the past, we must confront the challenges of the future.And what are these challenges? In the flexible slab industry, for example, the emergence of flattop processing brought with it the demand for specialized, yet cost effective, additives to solve the more complex process needs.The heart of effective processing is the high performance additive: surfactant and catalyst. The special role of a custom catalyst is to promote the several reactions in a preferred sequence. Today, we are turning to polymer polyols to replace inorganic fillers for more durable, high quality foams, and to new technologies to achieve improved combustion modification. Refinement of processing equipment continues. The spectrum of formulations in production and the variety of production equipment create a series of unique requirements. They demand a high performance catalyst system: that combination of catalysts, custom formulated for cost effectiveness.High density, all water blown foams produced with conventional and graft polyols find widespread use as carpet underlay. Since these formulations are difficult to process, foamers are continually seeking ways to increase their yields of prime foam. These formulations require a critical balance between the blowing and gelation reactions to achieve rapid foam cure and develop uniform foam quality. A new commercial catalyst, X-8230, meets this need and those of other flexible foam slab applications. X-8230 catalyst is the result of a novel applied technology, which is described in this paper. Table 1 shows a formulation for a carpet underlay application examined in this study. Catalyst X-8230 use level of 0.25 php was required to achieve a rise time of 110 seconds.Machine box pours some 20&dquo; high were prepared for testing. Reactivity parameters and average physical properties for this underlay formulation are listed in Table 2. Key physical properties measured from top to bottom of the foam block are shown in Table 3. As indicated in this table, excellent uniformity of properties was achieved with catalyst X-8230.