Physical and mechanical properties of soy protein-based plastic foams

Flexible plastic foams using soy protein isolate (SPI), soy protein concentrate (SPC), and defatted soy flour (DFS) were produced by interacting proteins with glycerol-propylene oxide polyether triol (polyol), surfactant, triethanolamine (crosslinking agents), tertiary amine (catalyst), and water (blowing agent). The density, compressive stress, resilience, and dimensional stability of foams with SPI, SPC, and DFS increased as the initial concentration of soy protein increased. The foam density increased with increasing weight percentage of SPI, SPC, and DFS. The resilience values of SPI containing foam increased with the increasing addition of SPI up to a maximum 30% SPI addition. An increase in SPI up to 20% caused an increase in the compressive stress (225 kPa) in comparison to control polyurethane foam (187 kPa). The control foam and foam containing 20% DFS had a similar load-deformation relationship. The foam containing 20% SPI and SPC also exhibited a similar shape, but with a higher compressive stress. The compressive stress of all foams was steeply increased after 55% strain, since the foams completely collapsed upon compression.