Synthesis of flexible polyurethane foams by the partial substitution of polyol by steatite

Abstract This work describes the synthesis of composites steatite/flexible polyurethane by replacing 4.5 wt. % of polyol with steatite rock powder. We evaluated two mechanical properties of composites (comfort factor and support factor) for various formulations based on a fractional factorial design. The new synthesized composites showed higher support factor, greater comfort factor, and lower cost, compared to conventional flexible polyurethane foams. There is not a significant change in the chemical composition of the foams, due to substitution of 4.5 wt. % polyol by steatite. However, there was a decrease in cell size and greater interaction between the hard segments of the composite.摘要 本研究阐述了以块滑石（steatite）岩粉替代4.5 wt.%的多元醇（polyol），合成块滑石/软质聚氨酯（flexible polyurethane）复合材料的工艺。本研究基于部分因子设计（fractional factorial design），针对多种配方的复合材料评估了两项力学性能：舒适因子（comfort factor）与支撑因子（support factor）。与传统软质聚氨酯泡沫相比，新合成的复合材料具备更高的支撑因子、更优异的舒适因子，且成本更低。由于以块滑石替代4.5 wt.%的多元醇，泡沫的化学组成未发生显著变化。但复合材料的泡孔尺寸有所减小，且其硬段间的相互作用更强。