Polyurethane Foam Composites Reinforced with Renewable Fillers for Cryogenic Insulation.

Beatrise Sture,Anda Fridrihsone,Daniela Godina,Ugis Cabulis,Mikelis Kirpluks,Laima Vevere

doi:10.3390/polym13234089

Beatrise Sture, Anda Fridrihsone + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13234089

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Journal: Polymers	Publication Date: Nov 24, 2021
Citations: 11	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry

Abstract

Sawdust, microcellulose and nanocellulose and their silanized forms were used to reinforce rigid polyurethane (PU) foam composites. The concentration of fillers was varied in the range of 0.5–1.5%. For rigid PU foam formulations, three polyols from recycled and renewable materials were used, among other components. Polyols were obtained from rapeseed oil, tall oil fatty acids and recycled polyethylene terephthalate. As rigid PU foam composites in literature have been described as appropriate thermal insulation material, the appliance of obtained composites for cryogenic insulation was investigated by determining the various physical-mechanical properties of composites. The physical-mechanical properties, such as the modulus of elasticity, compressive and tensile strength in both 293 K and 77 K, adhesion measurements with and without cryo-shock, apparent density, thermal conductivity coefficient, and safety coefficient were measured. The results showed that the addition of fillers did not give a significant improvement of characteristics.

Highlights

In recent years, the use of renewable and biodegradable raw materials has become the main research direction in the chemical industry, especially in the polymer field
The obtained data helped to acknowledge how untreated and silanized fillers dispersed in polyol mixture and further affected rigid PU foam composites
Comparing composites obtained with untreated fillers and composites obtained with silanized fillers, it was observed that composites reinforced with silanized fillers produced no significant defects, owing to the more homogenous dispersions of silanized fillers and polyol mixture

Summary

Introduction

The use of renewable and biodegradable raw materials has become the main research direction in the chemical industry, especially in the polymer field. Due to their excellent thermal insulation and mechanical characteristics, rigid polyurethane (PU) foams are one of the most commonly used type of PU materials [1,2], primarily in refrigerators, freezers, and other civil engineering applications [3]. Plant oils mainly consist of different fatty acids’ triglycerides. Most plant oil-based polyols are obtained by oxirane ring-opening with nucleophilic reagents [1,3]

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