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Insulating rigid polyurethane foams from laurel tree pruning based polyol
Author(s) -
Rincón Esther,
Balu Alina M.,
Luque Rafael,
Serrano Luis
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.49789
Subject(s) - polyol , polyurethane , materials science , isocyanate , composite material , blowing agent , compressive strength , pruning , biology , agronomy
The present work deals with the production of a natural polyol from laurel tree pruning waste, aiming the preparation of polyurethane foams. The obtained bio‐polyol was characterized and applied into foams studying the influence of the isocyanate used and the addition of the physical blowing agent. The incorporation of the polyol allowed 40% polyol substitution for those foams in which TDI was used, and up to 60% using MDI. Apparent density, cell morphology, mechanical, and thermal properties were evaluated. Mechanical and thermal properties of the foams improve to a greater amount of polyol in the matrix. Specifically, the best thermal and mechanical properties (274.99 and 7275.91 kPa for compressive strength and Young Modulus, respectively) were obtained with 50% polyol substitution (0.63 R NCO/OH ). Foams showed small, well‐defined cell morphology. Laurel derived polyol can be used for the preparation of foams using MDI, since the mechanical, and thermal properties are promising for obtaining insulation materials in the construction industry.