Kinetic Investigation of Polyurethane Rubber Formation from CO2-Containing Polyols

Abstract

A novel CO2 utilization technology allows for the inclusion of CO2 as carbonate units and double bond moieties to give additional functionality in polyether polyols. This study examines the chain-elongation kinetics of these diols with diisocyanates to polyurethane rubbers by means of thermal analysis. A reaction order of 1 indicates a strong influence of the chains' mobility on the reaction rate. Spectrometry and comparison with non-double-bond polyols reveal that the effect cannot be attributed to a substantial occurrence of side reactions but is rather due to the intertwining of lengthy chains.