The present invention relates to open- and fine-celled rigid polyurethane foams which contain not only urethane groups (PUR) but also isocyanurate groups (PIR) and carbodiimide groups (CD) and to the use thereof in vacuum insulation panels.

The present invention relates to a thiourethane based aerogels obtained by reacting an isocyanate compound having a functionality equal to or greater than 2 and a thiol compound having a functionality equal to or greater than 2 in the presence of a solvent. Aerogels according to the present invention are generally hydrophobic, high performance materials. Aerogels according to the present invention are light weight they have low thermal conductivity, low shrinkage and high mechanical properties.

The present invention relates to a process for producing an open-cell rigid polyurethane foam. Said foams can contain, besides urethane groups (PUR), also isocyanurate groups (PIR).

The present invention relates to a novel secondary battery pack with improved thermal management useful for an all-electric vehicle (EV), a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), a hybrid vehicle (HEV), or battery packs used for other vehicles batteries, and more particularly, to the use of a specific material for thermally insulating a secondary battery pack and further minimizing the propagation of thermal runaway within a battery pack.

The invention relates to a process used to produce open-cell and extremely fine-cell PUR/PIR rigid foams, said process using a polyol formulation comprising a specific isocyanate-reactive component, a catalyst component having zerewitinoff-active hydrogens and a cell-opener component.

The present invention relates to a novel secondary battery pack with improved thermal management useful for an all-electric vehicle (EV), a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), a hybrid vehicle (HEV), or battery packs used for other vehicles batteries, and more particularly, to the use of a specific material for thermally insulating a secondary battery pack and further minimizing the propagation of thermal runaway within a battery pack.

The present invention relates to a novel secondary battery pack with improved thermal management useful for an all-electric vehicle (EV), a plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), a hybrid vehicle (HEV), or battery packs used for other vehicles batteries, and more particularly, to the use of a specific material for thermally insulating a secondary battery pack and further minimizing the propagation of thermal runaway within a battery pack.

A process for producing an open-cell rigid polyurethane foam involves reacting at least the components of at least one polyisocyanate, a polyol composition, and a cell opening agent. The polyol composition contains at least 30% to 75% by weight of at least one polyether polyol (b-1) having a functionality in the range of 5.0 to 7.9 and containing monomeric units derived from monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, and/or sugar alcohols; >0% to 69.5% by weight of at least one polyether polyol (b-2) having an OH number in the range of >0 to 250 mg KOH/g; and at least 0.5% by weight of water. The isocyanate index is below 160 and the concentrations in % by weight for (b-1), (b-2), and water are based on the total amount of the components of the polyol composition.

Provided are insulative apparatus and methods of forming insulative apparatus. As an example, a method of forming an insulative apparatus can include connecting a barrier material to a mold; injecting a polyurethane foam composition into the mold, wherein the polyurethane foam composition includes a polyol, an isocyanate, and supercritical carbon dioxide; curing the polyurethane foam composition to form a polyurethane foam and applying a vacuum to the mold to provide a pressure from 1 millibar to 500 millibar.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a porous material, at least providing a mixture (I) comprising a composition (A) comprising components suitable to form an organic gel and a solvent(B), reacting the components in the composition (A) in the presence of the solvent (B) to form a gel, and drying of the gel obtained in step b), wherein the composition (A) comprises a catalyst (C) selected from the group consisting of alkali metal and earth alkali metal salts of a saturated or unsaturated monocarboxylic acid with 4 to 8 carbon atoms. The invention further relates to the porous materials which can be obtained in this way and the use of the porous materials as thermal insulation material and in vacuum insulation panels, in particular in interior or exterior thermal insulation systems.