Preparation of Elastomer Sheets From Flexible Urethane Foam Formulations

A technique has been developed for the compression of conventional foams to tough, snappy elastomer sheets. This permits direct measurement of the properties of the polymer, without any effects of foam cell structure. The elastomer properties depended mainly on the basic formulation (polyol, water and isocyanate index), but also to a small extent on foam processing factors and the temperature at which the foam was pressed to the elastomer. Auxiliary blowing agent did not affect polymer properties. Correlations were found between elastomer properties and the expected properties of the corresponding slabstock foams.