AVS 50th International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Wednesday Sessions
       Session AS-WeP

Paper AS-WeP13
Surface Composition of Polyurethane Foams with Accelerated Aging

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 11:00 am, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: J. Manzerova, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Authors: J. Manzerova, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
D. Parsons, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
S.W. Yu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
D.W. Lindle, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
A.L. Johnson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Correspondent: Click to Email
Polyurethane foams find broad application as structural and insulating (shock, electrical, etc.) materials. The long term stability of these materials are of particular interest. We have studied ReCrete and TDI types of polyurethane foams by means of the near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy and the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The foams were subjected to accelerated aging studies (60C and 80C under atmospheric conditions) for times up to 2 years. Systematic shifts in composition of the surface of the samples were found. Spectral assignments will be given and issues having to do with the variability of the surface of the polyurethane with temparature and environmental exposure will be addressed.