Application and Comparison of Silicone Oils in Polyurethane Hard Foam and Soft Foam

The amount of foam stabilizer determines the size of the foam structure's cells. More stabilizer leads to finer cells, but too much can cause shrinkage. Finding the right balance is crucial; too little stabilizer and the cells won't support each other, resulting in collapse during forming. Both are catalysts in action.

Polyurethane (Soft Foam) refers to a type of flexible polyurethane foam plastic with a certain elasticity, mostly having open-cell structures.

Polyurethane (Hard Foam) refers to foam plastics that do not undergo significant deformation under certain loads and cannot recover to their initial state after excessive loads. Mostly closed-cell.

Hard Foam Silicone Oil

Hard foam silicone oil is a type of highly active non-hydrolyzable foam stabilizer with a silicon-carbon bond, belonging to a broad-spectrum silicone oil category. It has excellent comprehensive performance and is suitable for HCFC-141b and water foaming systems, used in applications such as boards, solar energy, pipelines, etc.

Product Features:

1. Good emulsification performance: The excellent emulsification performance allows for good dispersion and mixing of the composite materials during the reaction with isocyanate, resulting in good flowability. The produced product has uniform cells and a very high closed-cell rate.

2. Good stability: The special molecular structure effectively controls the surface tension of the cells, stabilizing the cell structure and providing the product with excellent mechanical properties.

Soft Foam Silicone Oil:

A general-purpose siloxane surfactant for polyether-type flexible polyurethane foam plastics, it is a non-hydrolyzable polydimethylsiloxane-polyethylene copolymer, a high-activity stabilizer. It is used as a foam stabilizer in the production of polyurethane soft foam (sponge). It can provide a thin skin. In very low-density foam, it provides strong stability with fine and uniform cells. In medium-depth foam, compared to similar silicone oils, it has better foam opening properties and breathability.