ABSTRACT
The basic pool of feeds applicable in the manufacture of polyurethanes is made up of: diisocyanates, polyether polyols or polyester polyols, diols, diamines employed as low-molecular-weigh extenders of isocyanate prepolymer chains, catalysts for the polyaddition process of diisocyanates and compounds with unstable hydrogen atoms (water, alcohols, amines), and auxiliary substances selected for specifi c processes, e.g. blowing agents for foamed polyurethanes, poly-functional amines or isocyanates as cross-linking agents, or organophosphorus antipyrene compounds which are widely used in foamed polyurethanes. The choice of those materials was discussed in detail in numerous review papers intended to present production processes of individual polyurethane products [2, 22]. Basic isocyanate and polyol feedstocks were also mentioned in this work, just for regularity, but what was more stressed here is their structural characteristics and chemical reactivity resulting therefrom as the key feature for the step-growth polyaddition processes.
