Glass fiber reinforced rigid polyurethane foam: synthesis and characterization

The present study emphasizes the reinforcement of rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) by the addition of glass fibers (GFs) for diverse engineering applications. In contrast to the conventional RPUF, the foam developed in this case is castor oil based. The developed reinforced foam was tested for its mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile, flexural and compressive strength and for its morphology. Mechanical properties of the resulted reinforced RPUF were found to be improved with addition of the GF content. The foam density was also observed to be increased with the insertion of GF. The SEM results clearly indicated the decreased cell size in the reinforced RPUF.