Open Access

Biobased Polyols Using Thiol-Ene Chemistry for Rigid Polyurethane Foams with Enhanced Flame-Retardant Properties

C. K. Ranaweera¹, M. Ionescu², N. Bilic², X. Wan², P. K. Kahol³, Ram K. Gupta^1,2*

1 Department of Chemistry, Pittsburg State University, 1701 S Broadway St, Pittsburg, KS 66762, USA
2 Kansas Polymer Research Center, Pittsburg State University, 1701 S Broadway St, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762, USA
3 Department of Physics, Pittsburg State University, 1701 S Broadway St, Pittsburg, KS 66762, USA

* Corresponding author:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2017, 5(Suppl.1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2017.634105

Abstract

Biobased polyol was synthesized using 1-thioglycerol and limonene, an extract of orange peel, via thiol-ene chemistry as an alternative to petrochemical-based polyol for preparation of rigid polyurethane foams (RPFs). Fire-retardant polyurethane foams were prepared by addition of different amounts of dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) in the polyol. The effect of DMMP on the properties of RPFs was studied. All the biobased RPFs maintained a regular cell structure with uniform cell distribution and over 90% of closed cell. The RPFs showed excellent compressive strength of ~230 kPa without addition of DMMP. These RPFs almost retained their specific compressive strength even when 2 parts by weight (pbw) of DMMP was added but with significant improvement in fire retardancy. Horizontal burning test of RPFs containing only 2 pbw of DMMP showed reduction in burning time by ~83% compared to the neat sample. Weight loss during the burning test for the control sample was nearly 50% and this was reduced significantly by addition of 2 pbw of DMMP to merely 7%. TGA analysis indicated that the improved flame retardancy could be attributed to the release of DMMP at the temperature range of 100 °C to 250 °C.

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