Environmentally friendly shape memory biofoams

Abstract

AbstractSearching for renewable raw materials that would comply with the requirements of Green Chemistry and the assumptions of sustainable development is an ongoing and important problem. In the present article, an attempt was made to obtain biopolyols from selected solid plant fats, i.e., babassu, cocoa, coconut, mango, palm, or shea oil. In the research performed, modification of plant oil was provided by a one-step and solvent-free transesterification method, to obtain biopolyols characterized by hydroxyl numbers from 360 to 460 mgKOH/g. Biopolyols from plant oils were subsequently used to obtain polyurethane viscoelastic foams (PUVFs). Biopolyols were applied in the amount of 10%, 20%, and 30% relative to the total weight of the polyols used to prepare PUVFs. The obtained materials were characterized by an apparent density of about 100 kg/m3, a hardness of about 2–3 kPa, a comfort factor of about 2.5, and a resilience of less than 10%, which may be interesting to the industrial sector for applications such foams as the materials able to energy absorbing. The study analyzed the effect of the chemical structure of the oils on the physicochemical properties of the obtained biopolyols, as well as the physical and mechanical properties of PUVFs.