Hydraulic resistance of rigid polyurethane foams. I. Effect of different surfactants on foam structure and properties

Abstract

Foams used in buoyancy applications must resist penetration by water at significant depths of immersion. The behavior of water blown rigid polyurethane foam at different water pressures from 0 to 3 MPa are studied in this work. The effects of different surfactants on the cell structure and hydraulic resistance of the foams are examined. The foams have densities in the range of 145 to 160 kg/m³. With increasing applied hydraulic pressure, it is found that the foams have very small buoyancy losses at low pressures but beyond a threshold pressure, buoyancy losses increase rapidly. The threshold pressures of the foams increase with decrease in cell window area. A cell window is the lamella of the foam material that separates two adjacent cells. The cell sizes of the foam are found to correlate with the size of the air bubbles entrained during initial mixing. Surfactants, which reduce the surface tension of the polyol to the greatest extent, are found to give the finest initial bubbles, smaller cells, and foams with the highest hydraulic resistance.