Study on Properties of Regenerated Fluorinated Polyurethane Rigid Foam Prepared by Degrading Waste Polyurethane

• Published in: Sustainability 2022-12, Vol.14 (23), p.15685
• Main Authors: Zhang, Da-Sheng, Gu, Xiao-Hua, Liu, Si-Wen, Liu, Yan, Zhou, Qing-Yun, Zhu, Shang-Wen, Zhu, Yan-Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Compressive strength; Decomposition; Fluorination; Fluorine; Foams; Fourier transforms; Heat transfer; Infrared spectroscopy; Insulating materials; Insulation; Insulation (Heat); Mechanical properties; Molecular weight; Molecular weight distribution; Nitrogen; Polyols; Polyurethane; Polyurethane foam; Polyurethanes; Reagents; Recycling; Scanning electron microscopy; Silicones; Surface energy; Surface properties; Sustainable development; Testing; Thermal conductivity; Thermal stability; Viscosity; Water absorption
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su142315685

Polyurethane (PU) has become one of the most widely used materials in the industrial field due to its excellent performance and wide range of applications. The increasing consumption of polyurethane materials has resulted in significant polyurethane waste. We can recycle waste polyurethane to obtain recycled polyurethane, but to make the recycled polyurethane meet different performance requirements in terms of utility and cost and enable the recycled polyether polyol to be further applied to high-end applications, it is necessary to improve the use value of recycled polyether polyol. In this paper, self-made Fluorodiol was added to the degradation process of waste polyurethane to obtain fluorinated regenerated polyether polyol. Recycled fluorinated polyurethane with excellent performance was prepared using fluorine-containing recycled polyether polyol. The regenerated fluorinated polyether polyols were characterized by infrared spectroscopy, viscosity, hydroxyl value, and GPC molecular weight distribution. The density, apparent morphology, water absorption, mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, and thermal stability of RFPU rigid foams with different fluorine contents were studied by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that when the addition of Fluorodiol was 8% of the mass of waste polyurethane, the density was 41.2 kg/m3, the immersion loss rate was 2.125%, the compressive strength was 0.315 Mpa, and the thermal conductivity was 0.0227 W/m·K. The RFPU prepared by Fluorodiol has low surface energy, good compressive strength, hydrolysis resistance, and is expected to be widely used in special insulation materials. Thus, the sustainable recycling of polyurethane is achieved.