Oligourethane glycols obtained in glycolysis of polyurethane foam as semi-finished products for cast urethane elastomers preparation

The course of glycolysis of waste soft polyurethane foam (PUR foam) with ethylene glycol (GE) was investigated. The effects of weight ratio of GE and PUR foam on the yield of the product of glycolysis - mixture of oligourethane glycols (Table 1) and on selected physicochernical properties of the product (Table 2) were determined. The conditions allowing obtaining the product most suitable for further synthesis of cast urethane elastomers (LEU), prepared via prepolymer, were selected. Prepolymer has been prepared from MDI and the mixture of glycolysis product with polyether glycol (trade name Rokopol D2002) and then it was propagated using 1,4-butylene glycol containing the catalyst (DABCO). The effect of the composition of glycolysis product + Rokopol D2002 mixture on LEU phase transitions in melting area was characterized using DSC method (Table 4). Thermal stability of LEU prepared from the mixtures mentioned above has been determined by derivatography (Table 5 and Fig. 1). Mechanical properties of LEU: tensile properties (Fig. 2 and 3), hardness (Fig. 4) and elasticity (Fig. 5) were also determined. Two phase transitions are characteristic for LEU investigated. Their thermal stability is similar and only slightly dependent on the composition.