An international team including Miķelis Kirpļuks, a researcher at the Polymer Laboratory of the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, has developed an alternative to polyurethane foam made from vegetable oils. The work, with colleagues from the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University in Prague, was published in Advanced Functional Materials.
Unlike conventional polyurethane foam, the new material needs no isocyanates, toxic compounds used in industry. The foam forms in about 60 seconds at temperatures from room temperature up to 60 °C, and its stiffness can be tuned, from soft foams for mattresses to rigid foams for building insulation.
Thanks to dynamic chemical bonds, the foam can be shredded and hot-pressed into a new plastic film without added chemicals or catalysts. The process is compatible with existing production lines, which could ease industrial uptake, although results have so far been shown only in the laboratory.
