Effect of Catalyst Type and NCO Index on the Synthesis and Thermal Properties of Poly(urethane-isocyanurate) Foams

The effect of the NCO index and catalyst type on the thermal stability of poly(urethane-isocyanurate) (PUIR) foams was investigated to identify a method for enhancing the flame resistance of PUIR. PUIR foams were prepared using 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and [(diethylene glycol) adipate] diol, which were synthesized by esterification of adipic acid and diethylene glycol. Dabco K-15, Dabco TMR-30, and Toyocat RX-5 were used as the catalysts for trimerization and gelation. The amount of urea and isocyanurate groups in PUIR was semi-quantitatively determined by normalizing their absorbance with the phenyl absorbance measured by FT-IR. The normalization data showed that Dabco TMR-30 effectively generated isocyanurate groups in PUIR. As a result, Dabco TMR-30 effectively raised the decomposition temperature and increased the 800 K and 900 K residues of the PUIR foam synthesized with an NCO index of 200.