Investigations on the adhesion and interfacial properties of polyurethane foam/thermoplastic materials

The adhesion and interfacial properties of polyurethane (PU) foams with thermoplastic (TP) materials were investigated using different techniques. The adhesion performance of PU foam with TP materials was evaluated using the peel test method, and the adhesion durability was checked after different climate treatments. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and contact angle measurements were used to study the surface and interface morphology of PU foam and TP material system. Three types of PU foam samples which differ in their composition and also five commercially available TP blends systems, based on poly(carbonate), poly(styrene‐co‐maleic anhydride), poly(acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene), and silicone acrylate rubber have been used. The slow reacting foam shows the best adhesion properties with all the TP materials. The climate treatments strongly effected the PU foam adhesion durability with poly(carbonate) containing TP materials (70–80% loss in adhesion), but nearly no effect with poly(styrene‐co‐maleic anhydride). The samples with lowered adhesion could be separated by peeling without visible foam residues on the TP surface. AFM, XPS, and surface tension studies have shown that the surface properties of the TP material are still governed by the PU foam. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 479–488, 2007