Preparation of open cell rigid polyurethane foams and modified with organo-kaolin

The open cell rigid polyurethane foam (ORPUF) was prepared by adding chemical cell openers including O-500 and AK-9903. The FTIR results of cell openers and open cell rate of ORPUFs showed that O-500 has more effective cell opening capacity. In the ORPUF foaming formulation using O-500 as cell opener, silane coupling agent (KH-550) modified kaolin (organo-kaolin) was introduced into ORPUF with different weight loadings. The cellular morphology, apparent density, and compressive strength of the foams were tested in order to investigate the effects of organo-kaolin on the open cell rate and compressive property of the foams. The results showed that the open cell rate of ORPUFs slightly increased from 83.9% to 92.9% with the content of organo-kaolin. Meanwhile, compared to neat ORPUF, the compressive strength of foams increased by 72.8% when the content of introduced organo-kaolin was 4 parts per hundred of polyol by mass (php).