A Kinetic Study of the Autoxidative Formation of VOCs, Including Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde and Acrolein from Polyurethane Soft Foams
Christian Stefan Sandten, Martin Kreyenschmidt, Rolf Albach
TL;DR
This study examines how the chemical structure of polyurethane foams affects the release of harmful volatile organic compounds like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde during aging.
Contribution
The study introduces a method to distinguish VOC sources in polyurethane foams and reveals how foam composition influences oxidation and emissions.
Findings
Higher index foams degrade faster, emitting more VOCs like acetaldehyde.
Formaldehyde and acrolein emissions deviate from expected behavior at high temperatures.
Hard-segment content in foams extends the temperature range of VOC emissions.
Abstract
The oxidation of flexible polyurethane (PUR) foams significantly impacts product durability, vehicle indoor air quality, and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. This study investigates oxidation kinetics and VOC emissions (65–155 °C) from foams with indices between 70 and 115 (molar ratio of NCO to NCO-reactive groups × 100), where a higher index represents greater hard segment (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) and lower soft segment (polyether polyol) content. Using a flow-through setup with PTFE chambers and Tenax thermodesorption tubes and dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) cartridges, VOCs from initial analyte loading, hydroperoxide degradation, and autoxidation were distinguished, providing robust kinetic data unaffected by diffusion interference. A higher index accelerated soft segment degradation, increasing oxidation rates and VOC emissions. The activation energy of…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18
Figure 19
Figure 20
Figure 21
Figure 22
Figure 23
Figure 24
Figure 25
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 28
Figure 29
Figure 30
Figure 31
Figure 32
Figure 33
Figure 34
Figure 35Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsPolymer Foaming and Composites · Polymer composites and self-healing · Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure