Antimicrobial open‐cell polyurethane foams with quaternary ammonium salts

ABSTRACT An hydroxyl‐terminated quaternary ammonium salt polymer (QAP) was added to a foam formulation in various amounts between 1 and 5 wt %. The structures of the produced foams and their QAP content were characterized by Fourier transform infrared and EDXRF analyses. A linear polymer of QAP with a diisocyanate was also synthesized to support our investigations. The morphological changes such as the cell size and the cell structure of the produced foams were observed with scanning electron microscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis and dynamic mechanical analysis analyses were applied to examine the thermal and thermomechanical properties of the produced foams. Relatively low amount of QAP‐added foams showed very similar structural and thermomechanical properties to the unmodified foams. In addition, while the unmodified foams did not show any antimicrobial activity, the QAP‐added foams provided significant inactivation against Staphylococcus aureus , yeast and mold at concentrations of about 10 2 and 10 3 CFU within 5 h of contact time. The results showed that the addition of minute amount of QAP can significantly improve the biocidal performance of the produced foams without deteriorating their structure. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135 , 45914.