Cellulose reinforced polyurethane foams

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Performance BioFilaments Inc. (PBI) is a Canadian company currently commercializing a highly fibrillatednanocellulosic material known as Cellulose Filaments (CF). CF are produced from wood pulp through anextensive mechanical refining step. In this project, CF is proposed as a biobased reinforcement forpolyurethane foams (PUF). For a six months period, three important objectives will be pursued: 1) to determinethe effect of water concentration (blowing agent) on the final PUF density, 2) to optimize the PUF formulation(base components and additives) as for commercial productions, and 3) to determine the effect ofreinforcement type (different PBI products) on the overall PUF properties.For each step, a full PUF characterization will be performed: density, morphology (fiber size, dispersion andadhesion with the matrix in the composite, as well as cell size, geometry and density in the foams) andcompression testing. In particular, different testing velocity will be used to determine the viscoelastic properties(static and dynamic measurements) of the materials produced. Also, long term stability and resistance of thefoams (aging properties) will be studied.So the main objective of this investigation is to develop new applications for the FC produced by PBI. Thesuccess of this project would greatly benefit the competitiveness of PBI in a fast-growing but competitiveglobal market of polymer composites and foams based on natural resources, a field where the Canadianeconomy is highly important.