Processability and Characteristics of Novel polyurethanes from Cardanol

The development of a new class of polyurethanes from cardanol, a renewable organic resource obtained as a byproduct of the cashew industry, is reported. Cardanol based novolac type phenolic resin has been synthesized by condensing cardanol with formaldehyde in the mole ratio 1:1 using sebacic acid as catalyst. The resulting novolac resin has been subjected to epoxidation followed by hydrolysis to give the hydroxyalkylated derivative (synthesized polyol).The novolac resin/synthesized polyol has been condensed with hexamethylene diisocyanate to produce rigid polyurethanes. Tough polyurethanes have been produced by condensing novolac resin / synthesized polyol with the commercially available polyol, polypropylene glycol-1200(PPG-1200) and hexamethylene diisocyanate. The physico-chemical, mechanical and thermal properties of polyurethanes have been studied. These studies revealed the high performance character of rigid polyurethanes with respect to their mechanical and thermal properties.