GB1285340A - Process for the manufacture of polyesters and polyurethane foams - Google Patents

Abstract

1285340 Liquid polyesters; polyurethanes INTER-POLYMER RESEARCH CORP 4 Aug 1969 [14 Aug 1968] 38973/69 Headings C3C and C3R A polyester which is liquid at 20-30‹ C. and which contains 10 to 70% by weight of the epsilon-oxycaproyl unit [-O-(CH 2 ) 5 -C(O)-] is prepared by reacting a material which will provide the epsilon-oxycaproyl unit with a dicarboxylic acid or anhydride, a glycol and a triol or tetrol, the proportions of the reactants being such that the resultant polyester has the required content of epsilon-oxycaproyl units. The epsilon-oxycaproyl units may be supplied by epsilon caprolactone or by 6-hydroxycaproic acid or an oligomer thereof. The dicarboxylic acid or anhydride may be adipic acid, succinic acid, glutaric acid, pimelic acid, azelaic acid, an anhydride or mixture thereof, and the glycol may be ethylene, propylene, diethylene, dipropylene, 1,3-butylene or neopentylene glycol. The triol or tetrol may be glycerol, 1,2,6- hexanetriol, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol or alpha-methylglucoside, and is preferably used in an amount of 0À1 to 5 weight per cent based on the total reactants. The reaction is preferably carried out in the presence of 5 parts per million to 0À3 weight per cent of an esterinterchange or polyesterification catalyst, and at a temperature of 100‹ to 300‹ C. A flexible polyurethane is prepared by reacting a polyester of the invention with at least one organic polyisocyanate, at least one blowing agent, at least one catalyst, and a surfactant. The polyisocyanate may be 2,4- or 2,6-toluene diisocyanate or a mixture thereof, a diphenylmethane diisocyanate, a polymeric condensation product of formaldehyde and aniline or orthotoluidine or a mixture of a diphenylmethane diisocyanate with its carbodiimide. The blowing agent may be water, a halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon having a boiling point of - 40‹ to 70‹ C., a low-boiling hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide or a mixture of water with one of the other blowing agents. The catalyst may be a tertiary amine, a metallic catalyst or a mixture thereof. When the polyester contains 35 to 72% of the epsilon-oxycaproyl unit, the surfactant may be a siloxane-oxyalkylene copolymer containing 15- 30% of the polysiloxane, and when the polyester contains 10 to 35% of the epsilon-oxycaproyl unit, the surfactant may be a polyoxypropylene-polyoxyethylene copolymer, a nonylphenol-ethylene oxide adduct, an alkoxysilane, a polysilyl phosphonate, a polydimethylsiloxane, a metal soap or an alkali metal sulphonate.