Identification and Quantitation of Urea Precipitates in Flexible Polyurethane Foam Formulations by X-ray Spectromicroscopy

• Published in: Macromolecules 2002-07, Vol.35 (15), p.5873-5882
• Main Authors: Rightor, E. G, Urquhart, S. G, Hitchcock, A. P, Ade, H, Smith, A. P, Mitchell, G. E, Priester, R. D, Aneja, A, Appel, G, Wilkes, G, Lidy, W. E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cellular; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Technology of polymers
• ISSN: 0024-9297; 1520-5835
• DOI: 10.1021/ma0122627

Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) and atomic force microscopy have been used to study the morphology and chemical composition of macrophase-segregated block copolymers in plaque formulations based on water-blown flexible polyurethane foams. Although there has been a large body of indirect evidence indicating that the observed macrophase-segregated features in water-rich polyurethane foams are due principally to urea components, this work provides the first direct, spatially resolved spectroscopic proof to support this hypothesis. The STXM results are consistent with a segregation model where urea segments segregate, forming enriched phases with the majority of the polyether−polyol and urethane groups at the chain ends of the urea hard segments. Chemical mapping of the urea, urethane, and polyether distribution about the urea-rich segregated phases showed that the urea concentration changes gradually (across several hundred nanometers) in a butylene oxide-based foam. This mapping also showed the urea-rich segregated phases present as a partial network in an ethylene oxide/propylene oxide sample.