A polyurethane insulation foam composition is disclosed herein. The polyurethane insulation foam comprises: (i) an isocyanate compound; (ii) an isocyanate reactive compound; (iii) water; (iv) a tertiary amine compound; (v) a hydrophilic carboxylic acid compound; (vi) a halogenated olefin compound; and (vii) optionally, other additives.

A reactive composition for making a PIR comprising foam at an isocyanate index of at least 120, said composition comprising at least an isocyanate composition comprising one or more isocyanate compounds, an isocyanate-reactive composition comprising one or more isocyanate-reactive compounds, at least one PIR promoting catalyst, at least one physical blowing agent with a lambda gas ≤12 mW/m.Math.K at 10° C., at least one CO.sub.2 scavenging compound selected from at least one epoxy compound, and optionally a catalyst promoting epoxy reaction with CO.sub.2 characterized in that the amount of isocyanate-reactive compounds in the reactive composition is at least 10 wt % calculated on the total weight of the reactive composition, or at least more than the amount of epoxy compounds and the molar amount of epoxy compounds in the reactive composition is at least 7.8 times higher than the molar amount of CO.sub.2 formed by the water present in the reactive composition after reaction with isocyanates.

The hollow microballoons of the invention are hollow microballoons formed of a resin produced by polymerizing a polymerizing composition that contains a polyrotaxane monomer having at least two polymerizable functional groups in the molecule and a polymerizable monomer other than the polyrotaxane monomer having at least two polymerizable functional groups in the molecule. Using the hollow microballoons of the invention, a CMP polishing pad having excellent polishing characteristics and durability can be provided.

The present invention relates to the chemical digestion of keratin, such as avian feathers and wool. The digestion product is made by heating the feathers or wool with a solvent selected from glycols, alkanolamines, polyamines, and combinations thereof. The resulting digested keratin product is a keratin-derived polyol useful for making polymeric materials such as polyurethanes. The digestion products provide a sustainable alternative to petrochemical based intermediates.

Disclosed is a thermoset, thermal insulating foams having desirable and unexpectedly low thermal conductivity, and to compositions, method and systems which use and/or are used to make such foams comprising: (a) providing thermosetting foam forming component and a blowing agent for forming predominantly closed cells in the foam, wherein the blowing agent comprises: (i) cis-1,1,1,4,4,4-hexafluoro-2-butene (HFO-1336mzzm(Z)) and cyclopentane, with the HFO-1336mzzm(Z) and cyclopentane in the blowing agent together comprising at least about 50% by weight of the total of all components in the blowing agent and (ii) the weight ratio of HFO-1336mzzm(Z) to cyclopentane in the blowing agent is from about 45:55 to less than 68:32 and (b) forming foam from said provided foamable composition.

The present invention provides a process for producing a rigid polyisocyanurate foam involving reacting at an isocyanate index of from about 175 to about 400, a polyisocyanate with at least one natural-oil polyol containing at least about 35 wt. %, based on the weight of the polyol, of natural oil, having a hydroxyl number from about 175 to about 375 and a hydroxyl functionality of about 2.0 to about 2.8, in the presence of a blowing agent and optionally, in the presence of one or more of surfactants, flame retardants, pigments, catalysts and fillers, wherein the resulting foam has a renewable biobased content of at least 8% by weight. The foams provided by the inventive process possess properties similar to foams produced from petroleum-derived materials and may find use in wall or roof insulation systems. The high biobased content (>8%) may allow wall or roof insulation systems containing these foams to be considered for the U.S. Government's preferred procurement program.

Disclosed is a method for molding a foamed article, such as a midsole or outsole for footwear, in which first water, then a desired amount of thermoplastic polyurethane foam beads are placed in a compression mold in the shape of the article and the mold is brought to a peak temperature of from about 130° C. to about 180° C. over a period of from about 300 to about 1500 seconds, then cooled to from about 5° C. to about 80° C. over a period of from about 300 to about 1500 seconds within about 30 seconds after the peak temperature is reached. The foamed article made by the method has a density of from about 0.1 to about 0.45 g/cm.sup.3.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are foam formulations. As an example, foam formulation can include a polyol composition having an amine-imitated polyol that is from 10 percent to 20 percent of a total weight of the polyol composition and an additional polyol that is from 80 percent to 90 percent of the total weight of the polyol composition, a polyisocyanate, a blowing catalyst, and a gel catalyst, where a combination of the blowing catalyst and the gel catalyst is from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent the total weight of the polyol composition and where the blowing catalyst is from 50 percent to 100 percent of a total weight of the blowing catalyst and the gel catalyst.

Reversibly cross-linkable foam is provided. The reversibly cross-linked foam includes a first polymeric material, at least one reversibly cross-linkable monomer polymerized with the first polymeric material, and at least one blowing agent. The reversibly cross-linkable co-polymeric foam is thermally stable at temperatures of at least 10 degrees higher than otherwise identical polymeric foam that does not include the reversibly cross-linkable agent polymerized with the first polymeric material.

A process is described for producing PU foams, especially rigid PU foams, based on foamable reaction mixtures containing polyisocyanates, compounds having reactive hydrogen atoms, blowing agents, foam stabilizers, and possibly further additives, wherein specific perfluoropolyethers are additionally used.