The Use of Castor Oil as a Reactive Monomer in Synthesis of Flexible Polyurethane Foam

The use of castor oil as a reactive monomer has been studied in order to evaluate the use in synthesis of flexible polyurethane foam in this work. The study indicated that castor oil can be blended up to 25% with polyether polyol in the flexible polyurethane foam formulation. It was established that the products of this formulation can be used for all flexible foam applications while 30% blend of castor oil with polyether polyol showed a wide variations from the National standard recommended values with respect to density, porosity, and compression and elongation tests. The cost benefit analysis conducted on samples of flexible polyurethane foam produced showed a significant decrease (about 10%) in the cost of production when compared with foam produced with 100% polyol.