AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION OF POLYURETHANE FOAM

BY M. Osama Adil Rabia Raza Khan Noureen Naz PP-30 PP-19 PP-37

In Collaboration With: BASF-The Chemical Company

Internal Advisor: M. Raza Khan External Advisor: M. Abbas Ameer Meerani

Group-8

Department of Polymer & Petrochemical Engineering

 Overview
Introduction Polyurethane Foam and their Chemistry Applications Selection Aims and Objectives Mold and Tools Designing Experiments Testing Results and Comparison Profit Estimation Conclusion and Future Work

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 Introduction
Foam Classification of f oam o Open cell foam

o Closed cell foam

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 PU Foam and their Chemistry

Polyurethane Foam o versatile comparing with all polymer foams o can be manufactured between two extremes of softness and hardness o resist bacterial growth o availability of raw materials at cheap rate

o can be classified as a) rigid polyurethane foam

b) flexible polyurethane foam
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 PU Foam and their Chemistry

Applications of Flexible Polyurethane Foams

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 PU Foam and their Chemistry

Polyurethane Chemistry o Reactants are: 1) Polyol

1) Isocyanates

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 PU Foam and their Chemistry

Reactions o Blow reaction

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 PU Foam and their Chemistry

Reactions o Gel reaction

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 Applications Selection
Major automotive applications of PU Foam we discussed 1. Tyres 2. Headliners 3. Seats

SEATS
Car Seats

Final Selection

Bike Seats

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 Applications Selection
Comparison between bike seat and car seat
Motorbike Seat 1. Product divisions 1 Part: Seat Car Seat 4 Parts: Seat base, Backrest, Headrest and Armrest Supports More than 3000 PKR

1. Additional Parts 1. Cost

Nothing 800-2000 PKR

So after doing general feasibility analysis, bike seat was selected to proceed our project

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 Aims & Objectives

Depending on selection of automotive application of PU foam, aims of this proposal are: o To significantly reduce the density of PU foam without

disturbing its mechanical properties o To reduce the production cost of PU foam for bike seats

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

Mold Designing o Sample seat of OEMs product Master Foam CD-100 Seat o Reverse engineering

o CAD Models o Fabrication

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

CAD Model o Front View

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

CAD Model o Top view

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

Fabrication of study mold

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

Stirrer Designing o CAD Model

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

Stirrer Designing o CAD Model

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 Tools & Stirrer Designing

Stirrer o Before fabrication, workshop concluded that discussed model of stirrer would
be failure due to wings instability during mixing which can break it. o Workshop proposed another 3D stirrer(beater) having following properties

Speed Switch Revolution: Switches: Weight: Dimensions (HWD):

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3-Speed 700-1050 rpm 700rpm, 875rpm and 1050rpm 0.45 Kg 12.28.018.4 cm

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Automotive application of polyurethane foam

 Experiments
Composition of reactants Composition of Polyol Composition of Isocyanate
Components
Polyol
Co-polymer polyol Silicon Surfactant

Parts by weight
70.000
30.000 1.000

Component
ELASTOFLEX Diphenylmethane4,4'-diisocyanate (MDI)

Parts by weight
90

Water, Blowing agent Dimethanol Amine, Pure, Chain Extender Amine Catalyst Tin Catalyst

4.2000 1.700
0.1

Polymeric MDI (PMDI)

10

0.5

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 Experiments
Formulations
Sample No Polyol (A) (gm) Isocyanate (B) (gm) Mixing time (sec) Curing time (min) Mixing Speed (rpm) Foam Weight (gm) Density (lb/ft3) A/B Ratio Remarks

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5

30 30 30 30 30

15 16 17 18 19

5 5 5 5 5

4 4 4 4 4

700 700 700 700 700

27.00 26.21 25.73 25.10 24.81

3.8095 3.7813 3.6319 3.5471 3.4988

2 1.87 1.76 1.66 1.57

Polyol remains in bottom Still Polyol remains in bottom Polyol odor in foam

A6
A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14

30
30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

5
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

4
4 4 4 4 4 5 5 7.8

700
700 700 700 700 700 700 700 700

24.55
24.06 23.56 23.71 24.7 26.13 27.45 27.82 28.1

3.4539
3.3947 3.3242 3.3453 3.4850 3.6868 3.8730 3.9252 3.9647

1.5
1.42 1.36 1.30 1.25 1.20 1.15 1.11 1.07 Unstable Unstable, yellowish, isocyanate is visible Fail, Settling time is very high, unstable Fail, Iso everywhere un-reacted

A15

30

29

700

28.26

3.9873

1.03

A16

30

30

Infinity

700

28.49

4.0198

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 Experiments
Formulations
Sample No B1 Polyol (A) (gm) 30 Isocyanate (B) (gm) 15 Mixing time (sec) 3 Curing time (min) 4 Mixing Speed (rpm) 875 Foam Weight (gm) 25.97 Density (lb/ft3) 3.6642 A/B Ratio 2 Remarks Polyol remains in bottom, Still Polyol remains in bottom Polyol odor in foam

B2

30

16

875

25.49

3.5965

1.87

B3

30

17

875

24.85

3.5062

1.76

B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8.5

875 875 875 875 875 875 875 875 875 875 875

24.67 24.41 24.25 24.02 23.91 24.55 25.46 26.93 27.38 28.08 28.23

3.4808 3.4441 3.4215 3.3891 3.3736 3.4639 3.5922 3.7997 3.8632 3.9619 3.9831

1.66 1.57 1.5 1.42 1.36 1.30 1.25 1.2 1.15 1.11 1.07

Unstable Unstable, yellowish, isocyanate is visible Fail, Settling time is very high, unstable

B15

30

29

Infinity

875

28.57

4.0311

1.03

B16

30

30

Infinity

875

28.74

4.0550

Fail, Isounreacted

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 Experiments
Formulations
Sample No Polyol (A) Isocyanate (B)

(gm)

(gm)

Mixing time Curing time Mixing Foam Density (sec) (min) Speed (rpm) Weight (gm) (lb/ft3)

A/B Ratio Remarks

C1

30

15

1050

26.47

3.7348

Polyol remains in bottom,

Still Polyol remains in bottom Polyol odor in foam

C2

30

16

1050

25.81

3.6416

1.87

C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8.5

1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050 1050

25.36 24.72 24.51 24.27 24.02 23.87 23.92 24.01 25.67 26.74 27.32 27.65

3.5781 3.4878 3.4582 3.4243 3.3891 3.3679 3.3750 3.3877 3.6219 3.7729 3.8547 3.9012

1.76 1.66 1.57 1.5 1.42 1.36 1.30 1.25 1.2 1.15 1.11 1.07

C15

30

29

Infinity

1050

27.92

3.9393

1.03

Unstable Unstable, yellowish isocyanate is visible Fail, Settling time is very high, unstable Fail, Iso- unreacted

C16

30

30

Infinity

1050

28.13

3.9690

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 Experiments
Observations
Density (lb/ft3) 4 Density (lb/ft3) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Isocyanate (gm) 4.5 4.2 4 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.2 3 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Isocyanate (gm)

3.5
3

Graph of A Series Samples -Iso (gm) vs. Density (lb/ft3) at 700 rpm
4.2 4 3.8 3.6 3.4 3.2 3

Graph of B Series Samples -Iso (gm) vs. Density (lb/ft 3) at 875 rpm

Density (lb/ft3)

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Isocyanate (gm)

Graph of C Series Samples -Iso (gm) vs. Density (lb/ft 3) at 1050 rpm

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 Testing Results & Comparison

Foam testing is quite different than plastic testing There were 4 tests conducted to analyze mechanical properties o Density

o Indentation force deflection o Compression force deflection o Tear resistance

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 Testing Results & Comparison

Density
4 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3 Sample Sample Sample Average 1 2 3
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OEM foam Altered foam

 Testing Results & Comparison

Indentation force deflection (IFD) test

IFD
1000 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0

Comfort Factor
0.5 0.4

lbf/50 in2

OEM's Foam
ALTERED FOAM

0.3 0.2

OEM's Foam Altered Foam

0.1
0

IFD@25%

IFD@65%

Comfort Factor

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 Testing Results & Comparison

Compression force deflection (CFD) test

200 180

160
140

OEM's Foam Altered Foam

CFD (Kgf)

120 100 80

60
40 20 0

Comparison of CFD Values

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 Testing Results & Comparison

Compression force deflection (CFD) test

Recovery thickness difference (mm)

6 5 4 3 2 1 0

OEM's Foam Altered Foam

Comparison of recovery thickness after CFD test

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 Testing Results & Comparison

Tear resistance
0.31
0.3 0.29 0.28 0.27

Tear Strength (N/mm)

OEM's Foam Altered Foam

0.26
0.25

Comparison of tear resistance

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 Profit Estimation

Comparison of OEM FOAM vs. ALTERED FOAM on basis of density

OEMs FOAM ALTERED FOAM

1. Density
1. Seat Weight 1. Seat Volume

3.85 lb/ft3
1.76 lbs 0.458 ft3

3.34 lb/ft3
1.53 lbs 0.458 ft3

1. Polyol/Iso Ratio

1/0.85

1/0.73

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 Profit Estimation

Profit estimated with respect to materials cost price

Weight difference 0.23 lbs

Weight difference (%)

Material Saved Cost Price of material for OEM/Product Price of Material Saved

13.07 %
13.07% X 0.13X

Materials Cost Price per seat reduced

Profit in producing higher density PU foam Production Profit using Altered Foam

X-0.13X
Y Y+0.13X

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 Conclusion

Successfully reduced foam density Better mechanical properties of reduced density foam are achieved

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 Future Work

Our Limitations and recommendations for future work o RIM

o Molecular level research o Blended reactants

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