Polyurethane foam premixes containing halogenated olefin blowing agents and foams made from same

Abstract

Disclosed are polyol premix compositions, and foams formed therefrom, which comprise a combination of a hydrohaloolefin blowing agent, a polyol, a silicone surfactant, and a catalyst system that includes a bismuth-based metal catalyst. Such catalysts may be used alone or in combination with an amine catalyst and / or other non-amine catalysts.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 769,324, filed Feb. 26, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.[0002]The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 400,559, filed Feb. 20, 2012, which claims the priority benefit of each of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 494,868, filed Jun. 8, 2011, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 445,027, filed Feb. 21, 2011, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 445,022, filed Feb. 21, 2011, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth below.[0003]The present application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13 / 491,534, filed Jun. 7, 2012, which claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 494,868, filed Jun. 8, 2011, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as if fully set...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a new catalyst system for foams, foamable compositions, and foam premixes. By using this catalyst, the reaction time is faster, resulting in quicker foam formation. This improvement is especially useful for compositions containing hydrohaloolefins. The quality of the foams produced is also improved, even if the polyol blend is aged. Overall, this new catalyst system helps to make better foams faster and easier.

Problems solved by technology

If a surfactant is not used in the foaming composition, in many cases the bubbles simply pass through the liquid mixture without forming a foam or forming a foam with large, irregular cells rendering it not useful.

However, applicants have found that if the polyol premix composition containing certain halogenated olefin blowing agents, including in particular 1234ze(E) and 1233zd(E), and a typical amine-containing catalyst is aged, prior to treatment with the polyisocyanate, deleterious effects can occur.

For example, applicants have found that such formulations can produce a foamable composition which has an undesirable increase in reactivity time and / or a subsequent cell coalescence.

The resulting foams are of lower quality and / or may even collapse during the formation of the foam.

Other properties such as yield R-value, and related properties could be negatively affected.

Furthermore, applicants have found that foam premix formulations having relatively high concentrations of water, as defined hereinafter, tend to not achieve acceptable results in storage stability, in the final foam and / or in the foam processing when certain metal catalysts are utilized.

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