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Abstract

Integral skin foam (designated ISF) consisting of core (cellular foam) and solid skin is produced in one operation. Since the recommendation of Montreal Protocol in 1987 to phase out five CFCs, the three major possibilities for producing ISF studied in the past include replacement of CFC with HCFC, HFC, or water. Recently, the use of HCFC-141b for blowing agent was also phased out at the end of 2003, and HFCs have been criticized for their high Global Warming Potential (GWP). However, it is difficult to produce a skin layer using water as the blowing agent because carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is generated by an isocyanate—water reaction is unlikely to condense at the mold surface. We have developed a new technology to produce all-water-blown ISF. A novel polypropylene glycol, which contains an extremely small amount of byproducts (monool) and has narrow molecular weight distribution compared with conventional polypropylene glycols was applied to this new system. In case of applying this novel polypropylene glycol in all-water-blown ISF system, it is easy to control the balance between the gelling reaction and blowing reaction of ISF. Therefore, we have been able to obtain a tight skin layer like HFC-blown ISF.

Keywords

integral skin foam polypropylene glycols low monol all water blown.

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All-water-blown Integral Skin Foam Prepared by Novel Polypropylene Glycols

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