Polyurethenae foams and engineering education
[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Thermal conductivity [subscript] of a rigid polyurethane (PU) foam was successfully simulated, during which the impact of index of isocyanate, mixing speed, and the amount of physical blowing agent was characterized by a heat flow meter for [subscript], and a pycnometer for the foam density and closed cell content. Besides, heat capacities (ð¶ð‘ƒ) of most common polyols and isocyanate in making PU foams were experimentally measured. Then a general formula was created for using in a Matlab code to boost efficiency of simulating the reaction temperature. This work laid the groundwork for modeling the viscosity, reaction rates, and concentrations of reactants, etc. Prior to this publication, it was assumed in our simulation code that ð¶ð‘ƒ was a function of rising temperature by a slope of 0.1% per one degree for any polyols and isocyanate. In addition, a potential way to help undergraduates to achieve analysis, evaluation, and creation levels of learning in polymer and chemical reaction engineering course was presented.