The effect of the trimerization catalyst on the thermal stability and the fire performance of the polyisocyanurate‐polyurethane foam

In this work, 3 currently used trimerization catalysts, TMR‐2 (quaternary ammonium), K‐15 (potassium octoate), and PU‐1792 (potassium acetate) were used to produce rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) foams with certain amounts of isocyanurate contents. The results from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) quantitative analysis showed that PU‐1792 had the highest catalytic efficiency in isocyanurate formation. Then, the effect of different amounts of PU‐1792 catalyst on isocyanurate ring output was further investigated, and the result showed that the highest amount of isocyanurate ring formation could be attained by the 5 pphp of PU‐1792 catalyst. It was also found that the increased amount of isocyanurate ring could result in reduced cell size, improved compressive strength, and lowered thermal conductivity of PIR foam. The results from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and cone calorimeter (CONE) test revealed that the thermal stability and fire performance of PIR foam could be improved with the increased amount of isocyanurate ring. Furthermore, the CONE test indicated that the smoke production of PIR foam decreased approximately 51.7% in comparison to the reference polyurethane (PU) foam, and the SEM image of char morphology showed that the char of PIR foam was more compact than PU foam.