Synthesis and characterisation of polyurethane elastomers with semi-products obtained from polyurethane recycling

Abstract In this work polyurethane elastomers were synthesised by using different mixtures of a petrochemical and glycerolysate polyols and 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI). Glycerolysate polyol was produced from polyurethane foam decomposition using crude glycerine as a decomposition agent. The structure and thermal properties of obtained semi-product were similar to the polyol used in the synthesis of original foam. Glycerolysate polyol was incorporated into polyurethane formulation as soft segment (SS). Since polyol is one of the major component in polyurethane system (>70%) introducing recycled components leads to lowering of consumption of petrochemicals and valorisation of recycled products. Polyurethane elastomers containing up to 16.4 wt.% of glycerolysate polyol were synthesised, soluble in dimethylformamide (DMF) up to ca. 12 wt.%. The effect of glycerolysate polyol content on the structure and properties was analysed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and mechanical tests. Thermal properties did not worsen after using glycerolysate into polyurethane formulation. A slight increase in glass transition temperature is observed with the incorporation of glycerolysate polyol. Elastic modulus, tensile strength and hardness of polyurethane elastomers increased with recycled polyol content. Moreover they showed high elongation at break values.