Polyether foams

Most flexible foams produced are based on polyether polyols ca 8—10% (15—20% in Europe) of the total production is based on polyester polyols. Elexible polyether foams have excellent cushioning properties, are flexible over a wide range of temperatures, and can resist fatigue, aging, chemicals, and mold growth. Polyester-based foams are superior in resistance to dry cleaning and can be flame-bonded to textiles. 

The one-shot polyethers now form the bulk of the flexible polyurethane foam now being manufactured. This is a result of the favourable economics of polyethers, particularly when reacted in a one-shot process, and because the polyethers generally produce foams of better cushioning characteristics. A typical formulation for producing a one-shot polyether foam will comprise... 

Today polyether foam with a density of less than half that of rubber latex foam is widely used as a cushioning material. Polyester foams, although tending to be more expensive, continue to have a number of outlets, particularly where a high initial modulus is desirable. In addition to miscellaneous upholstery applications... 

In addition to one-shot processes, quasi-prepolymer systems are used commercially with rigid polyether foams. The quasi-prepolymer is commonly produced using excess TDI rather than diphenylmethane di-isocyanate. Sinee the former isocyanate is light in colour and the latter dark, quasi-prepolymer foams... 

CAPTOR A modification of the "Activated Sludge sewage treatment system, in which the micro-organisms are retained in a reticulated polyether foam. Invented in 1978 at UMIST, Manchester, and developed by Simon-Hardey, UK. 

This paper describes a method for improving hydrophilicity by using radiation-induced grafting of flexible polyurethane (polyether) foam with polar vinyl monomers. By this procedure, the normally hydrophobic material can be converted into a remarkably water-wettable sponge. 

Materials. The flexible polyurethane (polyether) foam, formulated from a polyol, tolylene diisocyanate, emulsifier, catalyst, and blowing agent, was obtained from the Nopco Chemical Co. It had a density of about 1.5 pounds per cubic foot (0.02 gram per cc.) and contained approximately 40 open cells per linear inch. The foam samples were washed in detergent, dried, and weighed before being irradiated. 

Polyethers are typically products of base-catalyzed reactions of the oxides of simple alkenes. More often than not, ethylene oxides or propylene oxides and block copolymers of the oxides are used. A polypropylene oxide-based polymer is built and then capped with polyethylene oxides. An interesting aspect of this chemistry is the use of initiators. For instance, if a small amount of a trifunctional alcohol is added to the reactor, the alkylene oxide chains grow from the three alcohol end groups of the initiator. Suitable initiators are trimethylol propane, glycerol or 1,2,6 hexanetriol. The initiator is critical if one is to make a polyether foam for reasons that we will discuss shortly. 

Foams can be made from thermoplastics, thermosets and rubbers. Densities can be obtained from nearly solid down to 200 times diluted. Structural (or integral) foams have a solid skin. The best known foam materials are polystyrene foam, polyurethane foam and polyether foam. 

Viscosity measurements at constant temperature were made using a conventional Shirley—Ferranti cone-and-plate viscometer. In some cases complications arose due to phase inversion or to the fracture of low-molecular-weight polymer. One case was a typical one-shot flexible polyether foam system. On the other hand, a polyether prepolymer prepared from 2000 M.W. poly(oxypropylene)glycol and 80 20-TDI, reacted with water, formed a homogeneous system initially, and was suitable for study with this technique. The rate of viscosity increase at several temperatures is shown in Fig. 15. 

One-shot polyether foams were studied, using a variety of catalysts. The formula contained 100 parts by weight of poly(oxypropylene)triol of 3000 M.W., 38 parts of 80 20-TDI, 2.9 of water, 0.3 of 4-dimethyl-aminopyridine, 0.5 of lV,iV-dimethylbenzylamine, varying amounts of metal catalysts, and 0.1 part of X-520 siloxaneoxyalkylene copolymer. All of the gas was evolved from these systems within 60 sec after mixing. Viscosity measurements were not satisfactory due to fracture of the polymeric phase. Analysis of the reaction mixture at the end of 55 sec reaction time indicated the relative rate of formation of various products, as indicated in Table 22. The importance of selecting the proper catalyst to avoid undesirable side reactions is readily apparent. The results shown in Table 22 indicate that both tin catalysts promote the isocyanate/water reaction more than the isocyanate/hydroxyl reaction in the system studied. This is unusual, since other reports, though often of dilute solution studies, have shown the tin catalysts to promote the isocyanate/ hydroxyl reaction more [145,147,196]. 

Comparison of the rate of formation of various chemical species in one-shot polyether foams during the first 55 sec. of reaction... 

Classification. Flexibie urethane foams have the largest market of all polyurethane products. The production properties and applications of various flexible urethane foams are described in the following sections. Flexible urethane foams are defined as open-cell urethane foams having the property of complete recovery immediately after compression. They can be classified into two kinds, i.e., polyether foams and polyester foams. Polyether foams are further classified as follows conventional flexible foams, high-resilience flexible foams (HR foams), cold-molded foams, super-soft foams, and viscoelastic foams. 

Flexible polyester foam Flexible polyether foam HR foam... 

Polyurethane foam (PUF) (VDI 3498, Part 1, 1998) This is made of toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and polyoxypropylenetriol with a density of 25 kg/m or TDI-polyether foam with a density of 33 kg/m cut into cylinders of 50 mm length and 110 mm diameter. For clean-up, the foam is extracted in a Soxhlet apparatus with toluene (24 h) and acetone (24 h). The PUF is then placed in a vacuum oven and dried at room temperature under nitrogen atmosphere. 

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