Additives to Enhance

Hydrophilicity of PU Foam

UTECH 2012

Rüdiger Landers
 Difference in Hydrophilicity

How is it possible to influence the interaction between liquids and foam ?

 Some Applications with Contact
Liquid - Foam

Applicators for
paints (paint rollers) Sponge foam for
Barrier foams
body care & household
(baby mattress)

Sealant Foam in
foams Hydrophilicity fuel tanks

Ink
Foam for Hydrophobicity
cartridges
dypers

Intrusion Substrate
of ceramic slurry foam
into foam Medical
Cushions for outdoor / applications
marine applications
Interaction between
Liquids and Foam
 Influence Factors

Reticulation - Cutting or tearing

- Flame treatment
- Cell size
Air flow / closed cell content

external
Foam Porosity
- Intrinsic property
FOAM
- Presence of Foam
thickeners internal
Surface
Viscosity of
the liquid Hydrophilicity/ - Presence of membranes/
reticulation
Hydrophobicity - Roughness of
internal surface
- Cell size
Surface Tension
of the liquid Interfacial Tension
(against air) Interfacial Tension between
- Intrinsic property
between foam and liquid
- Presence of liquid and foam
surfactants - Interaction between foam
and liquid
- Interaction between foam - Presence of surfactants
and liquid
LIQUID - Presence of surfactants
Strategies to Enhance Hydrophilicity

Tailoring the Interaction between

Foam and Liquid

Modification of the Addition of surface active

polymeric matrix agents („Surfactants“)

- tailoring polarity - into the liquid

- including ionic groups - into the foam (to be released)
- network density
-…
Silicone Surfactants

Surface Tension:
Polyol without stabilizer: 33.5 mN/m
Polyol with silicone stabilizer: 21.1 mN/m

Siloxan

Polyether

Normal silicone surfactants for flexible foam are not mobile

Special silicone surfactants are required to be released
Disadvantages of both Approaches

Matrix modifications to increase

Addition of Surfactants
Interaction between liquid and foam

original Swelling in water

Foam after compressing
the foam 20 times

Swelling Liquid Foam Formation

Test Methods

Droplet test
Absorption Test

Sink Test Creep Test

Hydrophilic Ether Foam

100 pphp Standard polyol (OH number: 47 mg KOH/g)

4.0 pphp water
0.2 pphp TEGOAMIN® DMEA
1.0 pphp TEGOSTAB® BF 2370
0.2 pphp KOSMOS® 29
x pphp Additive to influence hydrophilicity
48.3 pphp TDI 80 <Index 105> (to be adjusted to keep index constant)

- Box foaming
- Hand pouring
 r
de
ow
rp
reference

be
or
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ra de
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Su rp
hp be
pp or
5 bs
ra
pe
Su
hp
pp
1
ar
Ag ol
Absorption Test

h
hp lco
pp la
5 ny
Matrix Changes – Ether Foam

i
lyv
Po
hp
pp
5 l
P yo
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N
hp tp
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pp ly rs
30 po pe
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20 lr pe
lyo hy
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25 ep
lr
lyo
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hp
pp
10
t
ou
ith
w
25

20

15

10

0
absorption [g]
 2
PH
lH
go
rte
O
reference

it h
w
ed )
at p
tre pph
st
po 3 (1 hp)
6 p
35 (1 p p)
Addition of Surfactants – Ether Foam

C h
99 p p
34 (3 )
C 79 php hp)
62 p p
(1 (3 p )
BC 9 7 2 hp
62 H P pp
BC H l ( 1 p)
2 h
go H
ORTEGOL®

pp
rte HP (5 p)
HPH 2
Absorption Test

O l 1 h
go H pp
rte HP (2 p)
O l 1 h
go H p p )
rte HP (1 hp
O l
go H
1 pp p)
5
rte HP (0. hp) pph
O l
go H
1 pp 1.5
1
rte HP (0. te (
ORTEGOL®

O l 1 a
go H on
HPH 1 r te HP sulf
O l
go en e
r te z
O en
lb
ky
Al t
ou
ith
w
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
absorption [g]
 Disadvantages of Matrix Changes
and Addition of Surfactants

Swelling in water
[change of foam formation
Additive dimension] [foam height]
reference foam,
no special additive 2% 0
1 pphp ORTEGOL® HPH 2 2% 3 mm
25 pphp hypersoft polyol 6% 0
post-treatment of reference
foam with ORTEGOL® HPH 2
in acetone 2% 30 mm
Hydrophilic Ester Foam
- Formulation -

100 pphp Standard ester polyol (OH number: 60 mg KOH/g)

4.5 pphp water
1.5 pphp N-Methylmorpholine
1.2 pphp various stabilizers
50.8 pphp TDI 80 <index 100>

- Box foaming
- Machine pouring
 01
83
B
hp
pp
2
1.
83
83
B
hp
TEGOSTAB ®

pp
2
1.
B 8301

17
83
B
Absorption Test

hp
pp
2
1.
Ester Foam

66
83
B
hp
pp
2
1.
00
83
B
hp
pp
2
1.
45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

0
absorption [g]
 Summary

1) Tailoring the matrix polarity with formulation changes (polyol, …) is possible,

problem might be swelling.

2) Special silicone surfactants are highly efficient to enhance wetting of foam

by hydrophilic or hydrophobic liquids more or less without swelling.

3) For ether foam special silicone surfactants could be added without

affecting the foaming process too much. ORTEGOL® HPH1 or HPH2 are
candidates of choice.

4) Ester surfactants might promote penetration of liquids, TEGOSTAB® B 8301

(for hydrophilic foam) or TEGOSTAB® B 8383 (for hydrophobic foam) might
be recommended for ester foam.

5) Results depend on test method.

6) Foam structure parameters play an important role (porosity, cell size).