Abstract:
In this research, palm oil-based polyurethane (PU) foam/montmorillonite (MMT) nanocomposites were prepared via in situ polymerization method. The palm oil-based polyol synthesized by transesterification reaction of palm oil and pentaerythritol was reacted with commercial polymeric diphenylmethane diisocyanate in the presence of water (blowing agent), N,N-dimethylecyclohexylamine (catalyst), polydimethylsiloxane (surfactant) and montmorillonite to produce PU foam nanocomposites. The obtained nanocomposite foams containing different MMT contents were characterized for their structure, morphology, density, compressive strength, thermal conductivity and thermal stability. XRD patterns revealed that the nanocomposites formed were exfoliated. Scanning electron micrographs showed that the cells of the obtained PU foams were closed cells. This result indicated that these were rigid foam. In addition, the foams were found to have higher number of cells as the amount of montmorillonite increased. Meanwhile, the density and the compressive strength of the foam increased with the increasing amount of MMT and were in the range of 38.5-46.6 kg/m³ and 116.7-171.6 kPa, respectively. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of the foams decreased as the MMT content increased and were comparable with the PU nanocomposite foam prepared from commercial polyol. Also, the TGA showed that the decomposition temperature of palm oil-based nanocomposite foams were in the range of 332-348 ℃.