Polyurethane (PU) has become a widely popular choice of resin in the upholstery, contract and automotive markets. The producers are favouring PUs for its easy maintenance and the lower production costs. However, the flaws of PU resins start to exhibit themselves when the material is used in heavy-used commercial seating applications and under harsh weather conditions.

The hydrolysis resistance or an ability to prevent breaking and cracking of the PU when exposed to heat and humidity is tested in so called “Tropical test”. In the hydrolysis test chamber, the material is subjected to relative humidity of 95% and temperature of 70° C for several weeks and then compared to the control sample for degradation and other physical properties, such as colour change.

In the most cases PUs treated with the generic FR solutions perform very poorly mainly because of the difficulty of fine-tuning the balanced polymer matrix, which has a high level of flame retardancy, hydrolysis resistance and absence of halogens, a mandatory requirement for their application in health, contract and –increasingly- in automotive markets.

Our passion for solving challenging chemical engineering puzzles resulted in the custom designed GERPHOS solution with excellent hydrolysis resistance properties. Due to the comparably high molecular weight in a combination with special surface modification, we have created flame retardant that doesn’t only perform well in the Tropical Test, but even after many hours in coagulation baths doesn’t show any degradation. PUs treated with GERPHOS exhibit also rapid drying of the PU coagulation layer after leaving the water bath.

May you also face the challenging production requirements, or you are unhappy with the current FR solution, please book a free consultation with our R&D department here