Effects of castor oil on the physical properties of polyether based flexible polyurethane foam

Abstract

A preliminary study was made on the effects of castor oil on the properties of polyether based polyurethane foam such as rising time ,density, hardness tensile strength, compression ,elongation and heat ageing. The castor oil was introduced into the polyurethane foam by partially substituting it for silicone oil through seven experimental set up based on the laboratory mix formulation on 500g polyether based polyol with 0%, 20%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 80% and 100% castor oil substitutions .Incorporating castor oil significantly increased density from 21kg/m3 for foam without castor oil up to 25.73kg/m3 for 80% castor substitution and hardness index from 119kN up to 125kN. Improved compression set from 7.14% to 3.45 % was also noticed why tensile strength and elongation decreased with increased castor oil. Also heat ageing did not significantly affect the properties of the foam samples. The rising time of foam also increased with the increased castor oil. Clear cut conclusions on 100% substitution of castor oil could not be made as the experimental sample collapsed totally.