Physical properties of water‐blown rigid polyurethane foams from vegetable oil‐based polyols

Abstract

Fifty vegetable oil-based polyols were characterized in terms of their hydroxyl number and their potential of replacing up to 50% of the petroleum-based polyol in waterborne rigid polyurethane foam applications was evaluated. Polyurethane foams were prepared by reacting isocyanates with polyols containing 50% of vegetable oilbased polyols and 50% of petroleum-based polyol and their thermal conductivity, density, and compressive strength were determined. The vegetable oil-based polyols included epoxidized soybean oil reacted with acetol, commercial soybean oil polyols (soyoils), polyols derived from epoxidized soybean oil and diglycerides, etc. Most of the foams made with polyols containing 50% of vegetable oil-based polyols were inferior to foams made from 100% petroleum-based polyol. However, foams made with polyols containing 50% hydroxy soybean oil, epoxidized soybean oil reacted with acetol, and oxidized epoxidized diglyceride of soybean oil not only had superior thermal conductivity, but also better density and compressive strength properties than had foams made from 100% petroleum polyol. Although the epoxidized soybean oil did not have any hydroxyl functional group to react with isocyanate, when used in 50 : 50 blend with the petroleum-based polyol the resulting polyurethane foams had density versus compressive properties similar to polyurethane foams made from 100% petroleum-based polyol. The density and compressive strength of foams were affected by the hydroxyl number of polyols, but the thermal conductivity of foams was not.

Soy-Based Polyols and Polyurethanes

“…These soybased polyurethane products have shown properties comparable with petroleum-based formulations (Tu et al, 2007;Tu et al, 2008).…”

“…While most of the rigid foams on the market are based on polypropylene oxide, soy-based polyols have been tested and commercially produced due to the comparability of the soy-based PU foam's mechanical and thermoinsulating properties to that of petroleum-based foams (Tu et al, 2007;. Different methods are tested to produce soy-based rigid PU foams with comparable properties to that of petroleum-based polyols.…”

“…thermosetting resins (Wool and Sun, 2005), biodiesel (Teng et al, 2009), polyols for PU applications (Kiatsimkul et al, 2008;Mielewski et al, 2005;Tu et al, 2007), coating materials for Li battery (Kim et al, 2007), bactericidal polyurethane coatings (Bakhshi,et al, 2013), waterborne polyurethane coatings (Ni,et al, 2010), nanoshells for targeted molecular delivery (Schmidt et al, 2006), and many others. Soybean oil has been an attractive starting raw material for the synthesis of prepolymers or monomers to produce a wide range of different polymers and chemicals.…”

Polydimethylsiloxane and Castor Oil Comodified Waterborne Polyurethane

“…However, there are few studies reporting introducing cross-linking internally by forming cross-linked prepolymer [18]. On the other hand, polyurethanes derived from vegetable oils other than fossil feedstocks are put in the spotlight in an age of increasing oil prices, global warming, and other environmental concerns [19][20][21]. Castor oil (C.O.…”

Fatty acid composition of melon (Colocynthis vulgaris Shrad) seed oil and its application in synthesis and evaluation of alkyd resins

“…They are triglycerides and often have at least one unsaturated fatty acid in its chemical structure [1]. Most of the vegetable oils contain all straight -chain fatty acids with even number of carbon atoms ranging in size from 3 to 18 carbons [2].…”