ABSTRACT
The trend in flexible moulded automotive seating foam towards the production of high quality but lower weight foams has been with us for many years. To meet this continuing need for extra customer comfort at reduced cost, reactive polymer polyols containing solid particles have been developed for use in the various moulding technologies. Polymer polyols are based on the Styrene-AcryloNitrile (SAN) particle technology or polyols based on polyurea or polyisocyanate polyaddition technology (PHD or PIP A) whereas Shell Chemicals has relied on its POSTech technology (a stable dispersion of polystyrene particles) for its polymer polyol grade range. Competitive polymer polyols based on SAN technology can contain higher solids contents compared to those achievable via the POSTech technology whilst maintaining acceptable viscosities. Shell Chemicals has now made significant advances in the design of its own SAN polymer polyols using a proprietary particle stabilising technology.
Following the technical approval of polymer polyol samples produced on laboratory scale, Shell Chemicals has recently evaluated the potential of our new SAN grade on a semi-commercial production scale. The so-produced polymer polyol was evaluated on a 6 component high pressure moulding machine in low-density TDI-based automotive seating applications. The new Shell SAN polymer polyol was compared to both competitive SAN polyols and Shell′s POSTech polyol. The results obtained show that this new product offers the desired degree of foam design flexibility within a wide load-bearing and density range. The possibilities to optimise durability and comfort characteristics with the SAN polymer polyol significantly adds to Shell Chemical′s product offering in the automotive seating market.
