Used polyurethane (PU) was chemically degraded by the treatment with flame retardants such as tris(1,3-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP), triethyl phosphate (TEP), and trimethyl phosphate (TMP). Analysis of FT-IR and P-NMR showed that the degraded products (DEP) contained oligourethanes. Rigid polyurethane foam was produced using the DEP as flame retardants. The flammability and thermal stability of recycled rigid polyurethane were investigated. The mechanical properties such as compressive strength of recycled polyurethane were also studied. The recycled polyurethane reduced flammability and enhanced thermal stability over intrinsic polyurethane. Mechanical strength of recycled polyurethane also shows as high as that of intrinsic polyurethane. In order to evaluate flame retardant properties of the recycled polyurethane foams with various amounts of DEP, heat release rate (HRR) of the foam was measured by cone calorimeter. Scanning electron micrograph of recycled PU showed a uniform cell morphology as a intrinsic PU.

인계 화합물을 이용하여 폐 폴리우레탄을 해중합하여 얻어진 분해 생성물을 이용하여 폴리우레탄 폼을 합성하였으며 분해생성물의 열적 안정성과 기계적 물성을 증가시키는 첨가제로서의 가능성을 알아보았다. 인계 난연제인 Tris(1,3-chloro- 2-propyl)phosphate (TCPP), Triethyl phosphate (TEP), Trimethyl phosphate (TMP)를 이용하여 폴리우레탄 탄성체를 화학적으로 분해하여 얻은 생성물(degraded products, DEP)이 고분자 사슬에 인을 포함하는 polyurethane (PU) oligomer임을 FT-IR과 P-NMR을 통하여 확인하였다. 이 분해 생성물을 난연 첨가제로 사용하여 제조한 경질 폴리우레탄 폼의 물성을 측정하여 10 wt%까지 첨가될 경우 난연 효과뿐만 아니라 기계적 물성도 향상됨을 확인하였다. Cone calorimeter를 이용하여 발열량(heat release rate, HRR)을 측정하여 난연 첨가제의 함량에 따른 재료별 난연 특성을 평가하였다. 또한 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)을 사용하여 DEP를 첨가하여 만든 PU 폼의 morphology를 관찰한 결과 순수한 폼과 마찬가지로 매우 균일한 형태의 cell 분포를 가짐을 확인하였다.