materials Review Polyurethane Foams: Past, Present, and Future Nuno V. Gama 1 , Artur Ferreira 1,2 and Ana Barros-Timmons 1, * 1 CICECO—Aveiro Institute of Materials and Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro–Campus Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; [email protected] (N.V.G.); [email protected] (A.F.) 2 Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Águeda-Rua Comandante Pinho e Freitas, No. 28, 3750-127 Águeda, Portugal * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +351-234370200; Fax: +351-234370985 Received: 12 August 2018; Accepted: 23 September 2018; Published: 27 September 2018 Abstract: Polymeric foams can be found virtually everywhere due to their advantageous properties compared with counterparts materials. Possibly the most important class of polymeric foams are polyurethane foams (PUFs), as their low density and thermal conductivity combined with their interesting mechanical properties make them excellent thermal and sound insulators, as well as structural and comfort materials. Despite the broad range of applications, the production of PUFs is still highly petroleum-dependent, so this industry must adapt to ever more strict regulations and rigorous consumers. In that sense, the well-established raw materials and process technologies can face a turning point in the near future, due to the need of using renewable raw materials and new process technologies, such as three-dimensional (3D) printing. In this work, the fundamental aspects of the production of PUFs are reviewed, the new challenges that the PUFs industry are expected to confront regarding process methodologies in the near future are outlined, and some alternatives are also presented. Then, the strategies for the improvement of PUFs sustainability, including recycling, and the enhancement of their properties are discussed. Keywords: polyurethane foams; sustainability; enhancement of properties; new processing methodologies 1. Polymeric Foams Materials such as plastic foams, foamed plastics, cellular plastics, or polymeric foams are materials that consist of a solid phase and a gas phase [1]. Polymer foams can be rigid, flexible, or elastomeric, and can be produced from a wide range of polymers, such as polyurethane (PU), polystyrene (PS), polyisocyanurate (PIR), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), poly(ethylene-vinyl acetate) (EVA), nitrile rubber (NBR), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), or other polyolefins, being the world foam production dominated by PU foams (PUFs), followed by PS and PVC foams [2,3]. The global market for polymeric foams was worth more than $100 billion in 2015, with sales of more than 22 million tons and a consumption of 25.3 million tons is expected by 2019 [4,5]. Being lightweight materials whose properties can be easily tuned, polymeric foams are the first choice for a wide range of applications such as: packaging, automotive, electronics, furnishing, footwear, aerospace, toys, food contact, or construction materials [3,6]. PUFs [7] are commonly used in comfort applications or as thermal and sound insulation materials, PS foams [8] are commonly used as food packaging, thermal, and sound insulation materials, and PVC foams [9] are commonly used as transport and construction materials. 2. Polyurethane Foams The first urethane was synthesized in 1849 by Wurtz [10]. Afterwards, in 1937, Otto Bayer synthesized PUs from the reaction between a polyester diol and a diisocyanate [10–13]. Indeed, this was a major breakthrough at the time, as it consisted of a new class of polymerization reaction called Materials 2018, 11, 1841; doi:10.3390/ma11101841 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
Polyurethane Foams: Past, Present, and Future
Jun 20, 2023
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