Effect of catalyst residues on the degradation of rigid foam polyurethane

✍ Scribed by M. E. Abu-Zeid; E. E. Nofal

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 435 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/app.1986.070310802

✦ Synopsis

Immediately after heating rigid foam polyurethane (PU) at 165"C, it degrades in accordance with the degradation mechanisms suggested by Abu-&id et al. in earlier publications. However, after three days all photoacoustic spectra (PAS) bands indicative of PU degradation almost disappeared, and the samples were found to resist both UV and thermal degradation for a wide range of temperatures and W dosages. Residual catalysts left from PU polymerization were found to be the main cause of its degradation. When these residues were consumed in the process of solid repolymerization, PU becomes immune to heat and UV degradation.