Effect of NCO/OH ratio on physical and mechanical properties of castor-based polyurethane grouting materials

Abstract

This research focused on fabrication of castor-based PU grout (CPUG) using castor oil with OH value of 161 mg/KOH/g and MDI with NCO content of 31%. The effect of different NCO/OH ratio on the foam reaction time, density, rheology, morphological and mechanical properties were investigated. The result shows that the rise time of CPUG decreased while tack free time increased with the increased of NCO/OH ratio. Morphological properties shows that CPUG consist of closed cell of foams and the diameter of a single cell foam decreased with the increased of NCO/OH ratio. The apparent density, rheology index, flexural strength, flexural modulus and compression strength of CPUG increased with the increasing NCO/OH ratio. CPUG’s apparent density was in the range of 230.23 kg/m3 while rheology index of CPUG was between 1.74 to 2.43 cm/g. Both values obtained were in the range of industrial PU grout’s density and rheology index (214 kg/m3 & 1.48 cm/g). CPUG4 give the best flexural and compression strength with a value of 11.01Mpa and 2Mpa respectively. Flexural and compression strength of CPUG were tantamount to the industrial PU grout’s properties which the average of flexural strength and compression strength were about 7.4MPa and 2MPa respectively.