Influence of Palm Oil-Based Polyol on the Properties of Flexible Polyurethane Foams

Abstract

This paper describes the effect of the modification of polyurethane system with palm oil-based polyol on the cell structure and physical–mechanical properties of polyurethane foams. Flexible polyurethane foams were prepared by substituting a part of petrochemical polyether-polyol with the palm oil polyol. Selected physical–mechanical properties of these foams were examined and compared to the properties of reference foam. The properties such as apparent density, tensile strength, elongation at break, resilience, compressive stress and thermal stability were analyzed. It was found that the modifications of polyurethane formulation with palm oil polyol allow to improve selected properties of final products.