CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Research Background
Some years ago plastic industries were using different kinds of foam compositions to

produce a variety of plastic products such as polyethylene and expanded polystyrene until
they discovered polyurethane and that it could be altered in many different ways.
Polyurethane foams (PUFs) have been commercially used in wide variety of
applications since the 1940s. These foams surround us in todays society, playing an
important role in many industries and our daily lives. Especially rigid polyurethane foam is
used as one of the most important thermal insulating materials today for construction and for
sole insulation in electric appliances like refrigerators, and freezers. [1] Polyurethanes are
considered as esters or amide esters of carbonic acid. They are synthesized by the reaction of
polyfunctional hydroxyl compounds with polyfunctional isocyanates.
In general, blowing agent, catalyst and surfactant are also employed to regulate the
properties and morphology of the cell structures. Most commercial diisocyanates and polyols
are derived from petroleum which are rapidly diminishing natural resources. [2] Between the
two raw materials, to date only polyols can be synthesized from renewable resources such as
oils, fats and starch. Several researchers have described the use of renewable raw materials
for PU preparation. Some of them have investigated the possibilities of converting vegetable
oils into polyols for producing PU foams.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) started producing polyol from epoxidized
palm oil in the late 1980 s.[3, 4] Chian, et al. (1998) used polyol derived from refinedbleached-deodorized (RBD) palm oil to produce rigid PU foam. The obtained PU foams
provided a density of approximately 200 kg/m3 with compressive strength greater than 1
MPa. Salmiah, et al. (2001) indicated that palm oil-based polyols can be used for producing
semi-rigid and rigid foams to be employed as insulators and wall and ceiling-panels.

The increasingly widespread use of polymeric insulators in vehicle distributors and

transmission systems has led to an ongoing quest for quality and low costs. This quest has, in
turn, resulted in improved performance and cost benefits, brought about by the use of new
polymeric and composite resins. Occasionally, however, while some properties are improved,
others may show a loss of optimal performance. Therefore, to understand the behavior of
fillers, such as carbon black(charcoal), silica and mica added to palm oil-derived
polyurethane resins, several thermal, mechanical tests were conducted on samples.
The results of these tests clearly demonstrated that this type of resin and its
composites can be used to enhance or maintain the characteristics of the pure resins and
adding some extra characteristic to the rigid polyurethane foam produced. Besides, the major
ingredient to make the polyurethane foam have been slightly reduced as the filler play its part
to fill up the matrix of polyurethane to reduce the cost and usage of petroleum based resins.

1.2

Problem Statement
Total production of polyurethane products is reported to have been 11.5 million tons

in 2014, compared with almost 9.83 million tons in 2012 and 6.9 million tons in 2009. By
2019, this figure is forecast to be over 15.5 million tons, equivalent to an average growth of
6.2% p.a. over the next five years. Of the three regions considered, the polyurethane industry
remains the largest in East Asia, because of the dominance of China, but growth rates are
expected to be stronger in India and South East Asia. MDI and TDI are essentially marketed
as commodity aromatic chemicals, with APAC consumption of approximately 2.8 million
tons and 832,000 tons, respectively, in 2014. The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing an
upsurge of new MDI plants coming on stream, particularly in China, at the same time as
import volumes from Europe are declining. Traditionally there has been a generalized
shortage of MDI in APAC, but this has been changing in the past few years thanks to
increasing levels of production output. In the past, MDI consumption was largely driven by
the appliance sector. Today, the high rates of urbanization encountered in the region, as well
as an increasing awareness about sustainability, mean that polyurethane rigid foam will drive
the future demand for MDI. Filler were found as a solution for this as it can reduce the usage
of normal polyurethane composition for rigid foam production as filler can substitute in the

polyurethane matrix. Besides it also may enhance or retain its normal characteristics. As MDI
does not have an effective substitute the next most important material in rigid polyurethane
foam production, polyol can be reduced to initialize the sustainability and help in reducing
the depletion of petroleum product. Filler is mainly added to polyurethane foam to give extra
properties for the application purpose and these properties is valued as most fillers are cheap.
Charcoal powder filler is also very cheap carbon filler and the charcoal powder production in
terms of reusing the coconut shell as a charcoal is very productive although the process of
charcoal production may slightly affect the environment and the charcoal might have been
contaminated during the process.

1.3

Objective

There are three objectives that must be encountered to carry out the project which are:
1.3.1

To produce rigid charcoal foam polyurethane composite.

1.3.2

To study the properties of charcoal filler loaded rigid polyurethane foam.

1.3.3

To study the effect of charcoal filler loading to the thermal and morphology of the
rigid polyurethane composite using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Scanning
Electron Microscopy (SEM).

1.4

Scope of Study
The main scope of this research is the properties of the charcoal filler loaded rigid

polyurethane foam which are determined by density test, compressive test, thermal behavior,
morphology and spectroscopy of the sample. Density test is done according to (ASTM
D6226) Standard Test Method for Open Cell Content of Rigid Cellular Plastics [Gas
Pycnometer] . This test method determines numerical values for open cells. It is a porosity
determination, measuring the accessible cellular volume of a material. The remaining volume
is that occupied by closed cells and cell walls. Since any conveniently sized specimen can
only be obtained by some cutting operation, a fraction of the closed cells will be opened by
specimen preparation and will be included as open cells. The expected result is that the
density decreased and the percentage of the open cell content increased. [5]. Compressive test

is done using the tensile machine following the (ASTM D1621) Standard Test Method for
Compressive Properties of Rigid Cellular Plastics - This test method describes a procedure
for determining the compressive properties of rigid cellular materials, particularly expanded
plastics, based on test machine crosshead motion. The thermal behavior of the charcoal filler
loaded rigid polyurethane foam is determined by Thermogravimetric Analysis(TGA).
Morphology analysis is observed by using the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
analysis. Fourier Transmission Infra-Red Characterization is run to analyze the chemical
analysis and to identify the contamination on charcoal filler loaded rigid polyurethane foam.

References
[1]

D. Klempner and K. C. Frisch, Handbook of Polymeric Foams and Foam

Technology, Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y., 1991.

[2]

Chian, K.S. and Gan, L.H. 1998. Development of a rigid Polyurethane Foam from
palm oil. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 68 : 509.

[3]

Maznee, T. I., Norin, Z. K. S., Ooi, T. L., Salmiah, A. and Gan, L. H. 2001. Effects of
Additives on Palm-Based Polyurethane Foams. J. Oil Palm Res. 13 : 7.

[4]

Norin, Z. K. S., Ooi, T. L. and Salmiah, A. 2004. Effect of Triethanolamine on the

Properties of Palm-Based Flexible Polyurethane Foams. J. Oil Palm Res. 16 : 66.

[5]

Michael Szycher, Ph.D Szycher's Handbook of Polyurethanes, First Edition CRC

Press, 23 Apr 1999 - Technology & Engineering - 696 pages