Sound absorption behavior of flexible polyurethane foams including high molecular‐weight copolymer polyol

Noise pollution is an important issue for automotive industries. In this article, the high molecular‐weight copolymer polyol is blended in the polyol mixtures for fabricating flexible polyurethane foams to improve sound absorption efficiency. Changes of cavity size and material density of the foams are negligible by inclusion of copolymer polyol in the polyol mixture, but the closed pore ratio and specific airflow resistance increase for the copolymer polyol content higher than 20 wt% because of changes of phase separation behavior from drainage flow rate reduction that occurs with increased viscosity. Sound absorption efficiency increases with increasing copolymer polyol content up to 20 wt%, but it decreases beyond this point. The sound absorption property mainly results from the closed pore ratio, not from the cavity size. The compression strength increases with increasing copolymer polyol contents by increased amount of hard segments. Therefore, an optimum amount of high molecular‐weight polyol is recommended for enhanced sound absorption property.     

Exploring the potential of biodiesel derived crude glycerol into high value malic acid: Biosynthesis,process optimization and kinetic assessment

In this study, Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, a sugar tolerant yeast culture was explored for the production of high value malic acid using crude glycerol from biodiesel plant. In addition, the effect of addition of glutamic acid (precursor) (0.25 to 1%), temperature (15 to 30 ​°C) and time (0 to 24 days) of the fermentation process was also investigated by both conventional as well as Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The highest malic acid of 72.1 ​± ​0.05 ​g/L was obtained and RSM predicts the accurate optimized conditions such as 30% crude glycerol concentration in the fermentative media with 0.75% addition of precursor with initial pH 5 ​at 20 ​°C for 20 days. This study reveals that the crude glycerol can be efficiently used and the production of malic acid was raised with 3 folds correspond to no precursor under optimal conditions. The growth and product kinetics were studied by Monod, Logistic, Leudeking Piret as well as Logistic incorporated Leudeking-Piret models with and without precursor and Logistic incorporated Leudeking-Piret model allowed the best fit for the malic acid production.     

Assessing the progress of degradation in polyurethanes by chemiluminescence and thermal analysis. II. Flexible polyether- and polyester-type polyurethane foams

The thermooxidative and thermal stability of polyether- and polyester-type polyurethane foams were investigated by non-isothermal chemiluminescence (CL), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG). In the presence of air and humidity, the effect of various routes and conditions of polyurethane ageing (induced thermally or by light) on the chemiluminescence, DSC and thermogravimetry patterns was assessed. The rate constants determined from non-isothermal thermogravimetry and chemiluminescence measurements at 250 °C and their not very pronounced dependence on the atmosphere of degradation indicated that depolymerisation of the polyurethane containing the aliphatic polyester and aromatic polyisocyanate moieties preceded or occurred in parallel with thermal oxidation. Under conditions of 50% relative humidity, samples of the polyester-type polyurethane, aged either by light or thermally, as well as specimens of the polyether-type polyurethane, aged by light, gave increased amounts of carbonaceous residue when heated in nitrogen to 550 °C.     

Preparation and properties of optically active polyurethane/TiO2 nanocomposites derived from optically pure 1,1′-binaphthyl

In this study, optically active polyurethanes (PU) were prepared from chiral 1,1′-binaphthyl (BINOL) and 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI) by the simple hydrogen transfer addition reaction and the high-intensity ultrasonic was applied to the preparation of polyurethane/TiO₂ nanocomposites. The (R)-BPU and (S)-BPU were analyzed by ¹H NMR, FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), UV-vis spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD) spectra. The results indicated that the polymers exhibited stronger CD signals with positive and negative Cotton effect in their CD spectra. Meanwhile, the nanocomposites were characterized by IR, powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results manifested the improvement of heat stability of the nanocomposites with the presence of TiO₂ nanoparticles. As a result, the infrared emissivity (8-14 μm) study revealed that the nanocomposites possessed much lower infrared values compared with those of the neat polymers and nanoparticles, respectively.     

Polyaniline-coated coconut fibers: Structure,properties and their use as conductive additives in matrix of polyurethane derived from castor oil

Electrically conducting fibers based on coconut fibers (CF) and polyaniline (PANI) were prepared through in situ oxidative polymerization of aniline (ANI) in the presence of CF using iron (III) chloride hexahydrate (FeCl_3.6H₂O) or ammonium persulfate (APS) as an oxidant. The PANI-coated coconut fibers (CF-PANI) displayed various morphologies, electrical conductivities and percentages of PANI on the CF surface. For both systems, a PANI conductive layer was present on the CF surface, which was responsible for an electrical conductivity of around 1.5 × 10⁻¹ and 1.9 × 10⁻² S cm⁻¹ for composites prepared with FeCl₃.6H₂O and APS, respectively; values that are similar to that of pure PANI. In order to modify the structure and properties of polyurethane derived from castor oil (PU) both CF-PANI and pure PANI were used as conductive additives. The PU/CF-PANI composites exhibited higher electrical conductivity than pure PU and PU/PANI blends. Additionally, the PU/CF-PANI composites showed a variation in electrical resistivity according to the compressive stress applied, indicating that these materials could be applied for pressure-sensitive applications.     

Mechanical and thermal properties of rigid polyurethane foams derived from sodium lignosulfonate mixed with diethylene-, triethylene- and polyethylene glycols

Sodium salt of lignosulfonic acid (LS), which was obtained as by-product of cooking process in sulfite pulping, was solved in diethylene, triethylene or polyethylene glycol. Three series of polyurethane foams (LSPU) were synthesized by varying the LS content from 0 to 33 wt%. Apparent density (ρ) of LSPU foams ranged from 0.08 to 0.18 g cm⁻³ and was affected by both LS content and oxyethylene chain length. Glass transition temperatures increased with increasing amount of LS and with decreasing oxyethylene chain length. Thermal gravimetry analysis indicated that the LS component decomposes first and that the thermal stability increases with decreasing oxyethylene chain length. Compression strength and compression modulus increased linearly with increasing apparent density. It is concluded that LS is successfully utilized as a hard segment of rigid PU foams, whose thermal and mechanical properties can be tuned by changing the amount of LS and the length of soft oxyethylene chains.