Biodegradable polyurethane foam as shoe insole to reduce footwear waste: Optimization by morphological physicochemical and mechanical properties

摘要

Biodegradable trifunctional polyol, polycaprolactone triol (PCL) has been chosen as major component (similar to 77 wt %) to develop polyurethane (PU) foam with promising physicochemical and mechanical properties upon optimization of essential components such as surfactant, catalysts and diisocyanate reagent as well as variation of isocyanate index and chain extender in the presence of trace volume of water. To accomplish the optimization of PU foam formulation by one-shot method, a set of free raised foam samples were obtained by solvent free method at ambient condition. In addition to the physicochemical characterization of these foams molded in paper cup, non-trivial characteristic parameters like density, hardness, cushioning energy for walking (CEw) and running (CEr), cushioning factor for walking (CFw) and running (CFr) as well as compression set values were measured and correlated against the morphology of each foam sample, particularly to identify the suitable one, which exhibits the recommended physical parameters to use as semi-flexible insole in footwear.