Non-stick coatings in aluminium molds for the production of polyurethane foam

Abstract

The manufacturing of polyurethane foam is a process of great industrial importance in the automotive and furniture sector. The operation of demolding is the most delicate, since the foam sticks firmly to the walls of the mold onto which it has spread. In order to avoid the use of demolding agents, the proposal is to coat the inside of the molds with non-stick coatings. In this work, three types of different coatings were studied: fluoropolymers, ceramics, and elastomers. After carrying out different tests in the laboratory, two fluoropolymer coatings (PFA (perfluoroalkoxy) and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene)) were selected for a test at the industrial level and, after 1500 cycles of demolding, it was experimentally proven that the PFA coating is the most adequate for the use studied.