HIGHLY FLAME RETARDANT AND BIO-BASED RIGID POLYURETHANE FOAMS DERIVED FROM ORANGE PEEL OIL

Author

Chunyang Zhang, Pittsburg State UniversityFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Dr. Ram Gupta

Second Advisor

Dr. Khamis Siam

Third Advisor

Dr. Pawan Kahol

Fourth Advisor

Dr. John Franklin

Abstract

Polyurethane is an important class of polymer which is being used for various industrial applications in the form of rigid foams, flexible foams, thermoplastic, elastomer, coating, and adhesive. Especially there is a huge market for rigid polyurethane foams for their applications as thermal insulating material in building and housing. In general, polyurethanes are prepared using polyols and diisocyanates. Most of the polyols used by industries are petrochemical based. In this project, a novel polyol from an orange peel oil-based derivative, limonene dimercaptan, was synthesized using one step photochemical thiol-ene reaction. The synthesized polyol was used to prepare flame retardant polyurethane foams using dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) as an additive flame retardant (AFR) and a new bromine containing reactive flame retardant (RFR) derived from 2,4,6-tribromophenol. The foams using DMMP with phosphorus loading of 0, 0.23, 0.45, 0.90, 1.3, and 1.7 wt% and bromine-polyol with a bromine content of 0, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 wt% were prepared and analyzed. Our results suggest that prepared polyurethanes showed moderate density and high closed cell content. Both flame retardants lead to rigid polyurethane foams with excellent physicomechanical properties with a short self-extinguishing time and low weight loss after burning test. The reactive bromine-polyol leads to rigid polyurethanes with better physicomechanical properties than those of foams based on AFR, but the flame retardant properties of foams prepared using AFR are superior to the foams prepared using bromine-polyol (RFR). From the overall observations, the bio-based polyurethane foams showed efficient flame retardant properties and can be used as flame retardant foam for various applications.

Recommended Citation

Zhang, Chunyang, "HIGHLY FLAME RETARDANT AND BIO-BASED RIGID POLYURETHANE FOAMS DERIVED FROM ORANGE PEEL OIL" (2018). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 412.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/412