Elaboration of nanostructured polyurethane foams/OMMT using a twin-screw extruder in the counter-rotating mode

Abstract

In this work, a new elaboration method for nanostructured foam polyurethane/organo-modified montmorillonite (PUR/OMMT) by in situ polymerization is proposed. A twin-screw extruder in the contra-rotation mode combined with reaction injection molding (RIM) as the polymerization process was used. The blended polyols, copolymer polyol (CPP) were included between the OMMT layers via the twin-screw extruder. Both the formulation of the PUR and the inter-foliar distance in the montmorillonite (MMT) were optimized. The effect of some parameters such as OMMT content and catalyst (triethylenediamine for PUR 3 and triethylenediamine+diamino-1,2 propane for PUR 4) was also investigated. The synthesized materials (OMMT, PUR and PUR/OMMT) were characterized by different methods, i.e., Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of evaluation tests, such as flammability and the tensile for the PUR 3+OMMT foams revealed that the optimum properties were obtained for PUR 3+2 % OMMT. The PUR 4 foam showed better mechanical and flame-retardant properties than the PUR 3 (r = –NCO/–OH = 1.15) foam. However, the PUR 4 + 2 % OMMT formula exhibited the most delayed flame diffusion and pronounced rigidity.