• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.47-52
• /
• 2007

Polyurethane flexible foams have been widely used for automotive seat cushions because of their excellent performance. It has been required so far to reduce the density of seat cushion foam. However, recently, improving the riding comfort of seat cushions becomes more important. With regard to riding comfort, we investigated the improvement of static properties such as the ball rebound property and the hysteresis loss. We also studied the vibration characteristics, which are well known as an important factor to affect the comfort performance during driving.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.58 no.1
• /
• pp.32-43
• /
• 2023

The worldwide use of polyurethane foam products generates large amounts of waste, which in turn has detrimental effects on the surroundings. Hence, finding an economical and environmentally friendly way to dispose of or recycle foam waste is an utmost priority for researchers to overcome this problem. In that sense, the glycolysis of waste flexible polyurethane foam (WFPF) from automotive seat cushions using different industrial-grade glycols and potassium hydroxide as a catalyst to produce recovered polyol was investigated. The effect of different molecular weight polyols, catalyst concentration, and material ratio (PU foam: Glycols) on the reaction conversion and viscosity of the recovered polyols was determined. The obtained recovered polyols are obtained as single or split-phase reaction products. Besides, the foaming characteristics and physical properties such as cell morphology, thermal stability, and compressive stress-strain nature of the regenerated flexible foams based on the recovered polyols were discussed. It was observed that the regenerated flexible foams displayed good seating comfort properties as a function of hardness, sag factor, and hysteresis loss compared to the reference virgin foam. With the growing demand for a sustainable and circular economy, a global valorization of glycolysis products from polyurethane scraps can be realized by transforming them into profitable substances.