Abstract
Practical applications and mathematical modelling of the physical and mechanical properties of medium-density rigid polyurethane foams require knowledge of their structure. It is necessary to determine structural characteristics without destroying the foams and measuring each element. A methodology is described for the use of light microscopy on environmentally sustainable, medium-density rigid polyurethane foams (in the density region of ≈210–230 kg/m3), by the analysis of two types of light microscopy images: (1) Cutting surface images; and (2) Through-cutting surface images. The dimensions of structural elements of polyurethane foams, filled with the nanoclay Cloisite-30B at concentrations of 0.0%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 1.0%, 2.0%, 3.0%, and 5.0% from the mass of the filled reacting mixture, are estimated. Probability density functions of projections of bubbles’ diameters and struts’ length are determined using images in three mutually perpendicular planes. A mathematical model is developed for the restoration of the actual dimensions of bubbles’ diameters using data of cutting circles’ diameters. Intercalation and exfoliation of the filler’s Cloisite-30B mono-layers is evaluated via the basal spacing by X-ray diffraction at a 5 wt.% concentration of nanoclay.
Highlights
Academic Editors: Patrick Ilg and Medium-density rigid polyurethane (PU) foams is a cellular polymer applied as a structural material in various engineering solutions, especially in the automotive industry for test milling, design studies, and modelling, and as substructures for model pastes when making simple negative moulds and laminating moulds, etc. [1–4]
Similar X-ray diffraction (XRD)-patterns were acquired for the 5 wt.% Cloisite-30B dispersions made by (a) high shear mixing for 20 min and (b) sonication for 20 min
A methodology is developed for light microscopy investigation of the complex structure of rigid, medium-density, closed-cell PU foams, with a density of 210 kg/m3 –230 kg/m3, and a porosity of 83.5–83.8%, by taking two kinds of images of one and the same location on a sample’s surface
Summary
Academic Editors: Patrick Ilg and Medium-density rigid polyurethane (PU) foams is a cellular polymer applied as a structural material in various engineering solutions, especially in the automotive industry for test milling, design studies, and modelling, and as substructures for model pastes when making simple negative moulds and laminating moulds, etc. [1–4]. Academic Editors: Patrick Ilg and Medium-density rigid polyurethane (PU) foams is a cellular polymer applied as a structural material in various engineering solutions, especially in the automotive industry for test milling, design studies, and modelling, and as substructures for model pastes when making simple negative moulds and laminating moulds, etc. PU foams materials, e.g., from the industrial scale producers Sika JSC (Baar, Switzerland), General Plastics Manufacturing Company (Tacoma, WA, USA), Utah Foam Products, Inc. (Salt Lake City, UT, USA) etc., as well as the mathematical modeling of their physical and mechanical properties, require knowledge about foams’ structure. The distribution of struts’ length projections and the length themselves fits to a power law with an exponential
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