Effect of Surface Treatment of Carbon Black Filled Insulation Foam Based on Modified Recycled Palm Oil

New insulation foam was made from carbon black (CB) combined with bio-rigid polyurethane (PU) foam based on recycled palm oil. The bio-polyol modified recycled palm oil (MRPO) was synthesized in a single step, by epoxidation and ring-opening reactions. The chemical structure of MRPO was confirmed by FTIR and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy. The surface of carbon black was oxidized with sulfo-nitric acid for producing insulation foam. The morphology of the treatment CB (TCB) surface was characterized by SEM and elemental chemistry of surface was analyzed by EDX. The surface functional groups of TCB was characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. The rate kinetics of foam formation was investigated. Increasing CB content (10 to 30 wt%) increased the density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity of PU foam. TCB-containing had a faster reaction and increased the cure rate of reaction than CB-containing foam. In addition, TCB-containing foam had uniform and smaller foam cell, density, compressive strength than CB-containing. In addition, the thermal conductivity of PU foam increased with increasing CB content except at 10% CB content (all both CB and TCB). The PU foam containing 10 wt% of TCB content showed the best thermal insulation foam with thermal conductivity 0.0034 W/(m K). The results demonstrated the benefits of using MRPO polyol in the form of a rigid polyurethane foam to produce a new insulation foam from TCB, supporting the concept of eco-friendly materials. Graphical Abstract