Advance in Amine Emission Free Catalyst Systems for Automotive Seating - A Fundamental Study on Durability Performance by Humid Aging Load Loss Test (HALL)

摘要

In automotive seating, a reduction in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from interior polyurethane parts is an increasingly important issue. The objective is to reduce odor, fogging and PVC staining, while maintaining current physical properties and seating performance. A variety of reactive amine catalysts, which have hydroxyl or amino groups as a reaction sites with isocyanates, have been proposed to reduce VOCs. While reactive amine catalysts do make a chemical bond with isocyanate, and therefore reduce the VOC's, they also lose reactivity during the foaming reaction forcing an adjustment to the reactivity profile. Other drawbacks of using many reactive amine catalysts are the foam's inferior durability performance and physical properties. Reactive amine catalysts are normally incorporated into the polymer structure and lose their catalytic activity in the latter stage of foaming process. They also function as chain terminators, hindering the growth of the polymer structure, which results in diminished foam properties. Furthermore, amine catalysts are believed to promote hydrolysis of urethane or urea bonds during humid aging.