Structure–property relationships in polyurethanes derived from soybean oil

Two types of soy polyols have been prepared, one with secondary OH groups resulted from epoxidation of soybean oil followed by methanolysis (polyol type I) and the other with primary OH groups created from hydroformylation of soybean oil followed by hydrogenation (polyol type II). Cast polyurethane resins were prepared from these two types of polyols with Isonate 2143L, and rigid polyurethane foams were prepared from a blend of soy polyol and glycerol with PAPI 2901. Polyol II is much more reactive than polyol I towards polyurethane formation. This is evidenced from studies on polyurethane gel-times, glass transitions and rigid foam mechanical strengths. The reaction for the polyurethane formation is more complete for polyol II resulted from its higher reactivity than polyol I, although a less rigid polyurethane material is resulted from polyol II than from polyol I. Polyol type II also requires lower amounts of catalysts for rigid foam formulation. Both rigid foam systems produce foams having the required mechanical strength. The polyol II foam system behaves much like conventional rigid foam systems where the strength are proportional to system OH content, while the less reactive polyol I system does not.