Hydraulic resistance of rigid polyurethane foams. III. Effect of variation of the concentration of catalysts on foam structure and properties

Abstract

Water blown rigid polyurethane foams are made using dibutyltin dilaurate and triethanol amine as catalysts. The rate of carbon dioxide generation due to the reaction of isocyanate with water and the rate of polymerization are varied by changing the relative proportion of the catalysts keeping the total catalyst concentration fixed. The foams have densities in the range of 134 to 164 kg/m³. Foams are characterized for hydraulic resistance, "closed cell content,"and compressive modulus. A cell window is the lamella of the foam material that separates two adjacent cells. A strut is generated where three windows of three different cells meet. The cell window area and strut width of the foam cells are measured by optical microscopy. It is found that cell window area and strut width decrease and the respective distribution becomes narrower as the proportion of dibutyltin dilaurate in the total amount of the catalysts is increased. The hydraulic resistance and hence threshold pressure of the foams increases with increase in the proportion of dibutyltin dilaurate. The maximum threshold pressure of 1.81 MPa is observed for the foam made with dibutyltin dilaurate alone.