The present disclosure relates to methods for making polyols, esters, and surfactants. Generally, a carboxyl-containing molecule is reacted with an epoxide-containing molecule to obtain a hydroxylated ester. If multiple epoxide groups are present in the epoxide-containing molecule, the resulting molecule can also be considered a polyol. The hydroxyl groups can be further ethoxylated to obtain a surfactant/stabilizer.

The object of the present invention is to provide a curable composition for forming a cured product having high tensile strength and high elongation. A polyurethane curable composition of the present invention contains a polyol (A) and a polyisocyanate (B) as an essential component, wherein the composition contains polymer fine particles (C) having a core-shell structure including at least two layers of a core layer and a shell layer, the polymer fine particles (C) are contained in an amount of 1 to 150 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of a total amount of the polyol (A) and the polyisocyanate (B), the core layer has a glass transition temperature (Tg) of more than 0 C. as calculated by the following numerical formula (1), a cured product formed by the curable composition has an elongation of more than 47% at a maximum tensile stress,

1/Tg=(M.sub.i/Tg.sub.i)(1) wherein M.sub.i represents a weight fraction of a non-crosslinking monomer i constituting the core layer of the polymer fine particles (C), Tg.sub.i represents a glass transition temperature (K) of a homopolymer polymerized with the non-crosslinking monomer i, and i represents an integer of 1 or more.

The invention relates generally to protein-containing polyurethane foams, methods and compositions for making the polyurethane foams, and articles comprising the polyurethane foams.

A caprolactone polyol and polyurethane materials or adhesives including the same are described herein. The caprolactone polyol is made by a process of admixing an initiator and a caprolactone monomers to form an initiator-caprolactone mixture or reaction mixture; adding a catalyst to the initiator-caprolactone mixture to form a reaction mixture; and polymerizing the caprolactone monomers in the reaction mixture, thereby forming the caprolactone polyol, wherein the initiator includes hydroquinone bis(2-hydroxyethyl)ether, dodecanediol, pentaspiroglycol, or a combination thereof. The polyurethane materials or adhesives described herein have decreased open time, while having decreased viscosity, improved adhesion, and improved tensile strength, as compared to caprolactone polyols prepared without the initiator of the present disclosure. Methods of making and using the caprolactone polyol and polyurethane materials or adhesives are also described herein.

Disclosed are tufted carpet structures, including synthetic turf structures, such as synthetic grass structures, that include a polyurethane backing coating formed from a polyether carbonate polyol.

Polymeric microspheres may be included in polyisocyanurate/polyurethane foam compositions. An exothermic foaming process and/or the application of heat during the foaming process may cause the polymeric microspheres to expand in diameter. The expanded polymeric microspheres may improve the structural properties and/or the insulating properties (e.g., R-value) of the resultant foamed PIR/PUR composition, especially an open-cell structure.

A composition and process useful to make flexible polyurethane foams and in particular flexible molded polyurethane foams is disclosed. The usage of dipolar aprotic liquids such as DMSO, DMI, sulfolane, N-methyl-acetoacetamide, N,N-dimethylacetoacetamide as well as glycols containing hydroxyl numbers OH#1100 as cell opening aides for 2-cyanoacetamide or other similar molecules containing active methylene or methine groups to make a polyurethane foam is also disclosed. The advantage of using cell opener aids results in a) no foam shrinkage; b) lower use levels of cell opener; c) foam performance reproducibility d) optimum physical properties. In addition, combining the acid blocked amine catalyst together with the cell opener and the cell opener aid results in a less corrosive mixture as well as provides a method that does not require mechanical crushing for cell opening.

A method for producing a bonded permanent magnet by additive manufacturing, the method comprising: (i) incorporating components of a reactive precursor material into an additive manufacturing device, the reactive precursor material comprising an amine component, an isocyanate component, and particles having a permanent magnetic composition; and (ii) mixing and extruding the crosslinkable reactive precursor material through a nozzle of the additive manufacturing device and depositing the extrudate onto a substrate under conditions where the extrudate is permitted to cure, to produce a bonded permanent magnet of desired shape. The resulting bonded permanent magnet and articles made thereof are also described.

A coating is made by mixing an amine-terminated polymer precursor; an aromatic polyisocyanate polymer precursor; and nanotubes in the head of a spray gun and spraying the mixture onto a substrate.

The present invention discloses the production of panels by a discontinuous process. The panels are produced by injecting a polyisocyanurate foam forming composition into the mold cavity at reduced pressure. The combination of certain polyisocyanurate foam forming formulation and the reduced pressure in the mold cavity allows production of and resulting sandwich panels in a discontinuous process where the produced panels are characterized by improved fire resistance.