Fabrication of soybean oil-based polyol modified polyurethane foam from ammonium polyphosphate and its thermal stability and flame retardant properties

Abstract Rigid polyurethane foams (RPUFs) were prepared using biomass soybean oil-based polyol and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) as raw materials. The effects of APP on the thermal stability and combustion performance of soybean oil-based polyol-modified RPUFs were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis, pyrolysis kinetic analysis, limiting oxygen index (LOI) test, cone calorimetry (CONE), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and smoke density (Ds). The results showed that the modified RPUF with 20 wt% APP (RPUF-S3-20) had the lowest mass loss, the highest integrated programmed decomposition temperature and the highest activation energy. In addition, RPUF-S3-20 had the lowest Ds (30.9), the highest light transmittance (61.4 %), the lowest heat release rate (602.7 kW/m2, 506.8 MJ/m2, and 847.3 kW/m2) and the total heat release (18.3 MJ/m2, 21.4 MJ/m2, and 31.4 MJ/m2), which showed that RPUF-S3-20 had good thermal stability and flame retardant performance. The current results can provide an effective reference for the preparation of environmentally friendly RPUF by bio-based modification.