Optimizing the preparation parameters of eco-friendly flexible polyurethane foams derived from a corn-based bio-polyol

Corn-based bio-polyol is employed as an alternative for petroleum-based polyol to prepare an eco-friendly polyurethane (PU) foam via a one-shot method. By varying ratio of gelling catalyst, blowing catalyst, and surfactant during the preparation process, the compression performance, cell morphology, and thermal stability of the PU foam are analyzed. The results obtained indicate that an increase in surfactant content yielded improved foam stability, whereas increased amounts of blowing and gelling catalysts resulted in enhanced compression performance. An optimized foaming process is determined with an NCO/OH ratio of 1.2, 0.2 parts per hundred polyols (pphp) of gelling catalyst, 0.1 pphp of blowing catalyst, and 0.1 pphp of surfactant. Under these specific conditions, the PU foam exhibits a uniform cell structure, exceptional compression performance, and good thermal stability, comparable to those of a reference foam derived from petroleum-based polyol. Corn-based bio-polyol substitutes petroleum-based polyol to prepare an eco-friendly polyurethane (PU) foam. Physical properties, compression performance, cell morphology, and thermal stability are examined by varying gelling, blowing, and surfactant ratios. Results show increased surfactant enhances foam stability, whereas more blowing and gelling catalysts improve physical properties and compression performance. Optimized foaming yields PU foam with uniform cells, exceptional compression, and thermal stability comparable to petroleum-based foam. image