Preparation and Characterization of Flexible Polyurethane Foams from Palm Oil-Based Polyol

Abstract

Flexible polyurethane (PU) foams were prepared by replacing commercial petroleum-based polyether polyol with palm oil-based polyol up to 50 wt%. Palm oil was converted to polyol by transesterification reaction with glycerol using calcium oxide as a catalyst. PU foams were then prepared from reaction between mixtures of palm oil-based polyol and petrochemical polyols with toluene diisocyanate (TDI) using water as blowing agent. The morphology and physical-mechanical properties including apparent density, indentation hardness, compressive deflection coefficient or support factor, tensile strength, and tear strength of the prepared foams were characterized and compared to those of reference foam prepared using only conventional petrochemical polyols. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the cellular structures of all the prepared foams were semi-open and the cell size decreased with higher amount of palm oil-based polyol. The apparent densities and the compressive deflection coefficient of the PU foams increased with the increasing amount of palm oil-based polyol, while the indentation hardness showed the opposite tendency. Furthermore, the obtained foam modified with palm oil-based polyol of 20 wt% were found to have the highest tensile and tear strengths.