Characterization of Biodegradable Flame Retardant Rigid Polyurethane Foam Prepared Using Renewable Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Ricinoleic Acid

Ji-Ping Jiang; Shu-Duan Deng; Seng Hua Lee; Wei Chen Lum; Yu-Heng Ren; Guan-Ben Du; Xiao-Jian Zhou; Jun Zhang

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3350-6

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Characterization of Biodegradable Flame Retardant Rigid Polyurethane Foam Prepared Using Renewable Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Ricinoleic Acid

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2025-07-26

- Characterization of Biodegradable Flame Retardant Rigid Polyurethane Foam Prepared Using Renewable Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Ricinoleic Acid
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 43, Issue 8, Pages: 1346-1366(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China
  b.Department of Wood Industry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang Branch Jengka Campus, 26400 Bandar Tun Razak, Pahang, Malaysia
  c.Institute for Infrastructure Engineering and Sustainable Management (IIESM), Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  d.Tropical Wood and Biomass Research Group, Department of Bio and Natural Resource, Faculty of Bioengineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, 17600 Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia
  e.Digital Industry College, Jimei University, Xiamen 361021, China
- Author bio：
  
  leesenghua@uitm.edu.my (S.H.L.)
  zj8101274@163.com (J.Z.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3350-6
  CLC：
- Received：15 February 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-03-24，
  
  Accepted：31 March 2025，
  
  Online First：06 June 2025，
  
  Published：01 August 2025
- Accepted：
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Jiang, J. P.; Deng, S. D.; Lee, S. H.; Lum, W. C.; Ren, Y. H.; Du, G. B.; Zhou, X. J.; Zhang, J. Characterization of biodegradable flame retardant rigid polyurethane foam prepared using renewable epoxidized soybean oil and ricinoleic acid. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 1346–1366

Ji-Ping Jiang, Shu-Duan Deng, Seng Hua Lee, et al. Characterization of Biodegradable Flame Retardant Rigid Polyurethane Foam Prepared Using Renewable Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Ricinoleic Acid[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(8): 1346-1366.
Jiang, J. P.; Deng, S. D.; Lee, S. H.; Lum, W. C.; Ren, Y. H.; Du, G. B.; Zhou, X. J.; Zhang, J. Characterization of biodegradable flame retardant rigid polyurethane foam prepared using renewable epoxidized soybean oil and ricinoleic acid. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 1346–1366 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3350-6.

Ji-Ping Jiang, Shu-Duan Deng, Seng Hua Lee, et al. Characterization of Biodegradable Flame Retardant Rigid Polyurethane Foam Prepared Using Renewable Epoxidized Soybean Oil and Ricinoleic Acid[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(8): 1346-1366. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3350-6.

摘要

In this work

a simple

economical and environmentally friendly preparation method of flame retardant polyurethane foam is proposed

which can realize the sustainable development of polyurethane foam and broaden the application field of polyurethane foam by using biomass resources.

Abstract

In this study

epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) and ricinoleic acid (RA) were used to synthesize polyol esters

designated ESO-RA (ER) resin. The esters were further crosslinked with 4

4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (PMDI) to create a biodegradable flame-retardant thermoset foam

referred to as ESO-RA-PMDI (ERP) foam

using water as a foaming agent. Additionally

flame retardants such as triethyl phosphate (TEP) and expanded graphite (EG) have been combined for foam preparation without the need for catalysts or foaming agents. The study findings showed that the incorporation of TEP and EG diminished the pulverization ratio while augmenting the compressive strength and shore hardness. Furthermore

the ERP foam exhibited exceptional flame retardant characteristics

as evidenced by a reported limiting oxygen index (LOI) value of 30.6 vol%. A peak heat release rate of 97.12 kW/m

was reported during the fire test. Significantly

a low peak smoke production rate (pSPR) of 0.026 m²/s and a total

smoke production (TSP) of 0.62 m² were achieved. In addition

ERP foam exhibited exceptional ultraviolet (UV) resistance

thermal insulation

and biodegradability. After 60 days of exposure to

Penicillium

sp.

foam containing both TEP and EG exhibited a mass loss of 9.39%

indicating that the incorporation of flame retardants did not negatively impact its biodegradability.

关键词

Keywords

references

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