Preparation of Polyurethane Flexible Foam Nanocomposites by Incorporation of Fe ₃ O ₄ Nanoparticles Modified by Reaction Product of GPTS and APTS

Synthesis and characterization of magnetic flexible polyurethane foam (PUF) nanocomposites is reported. In order to improving dispersion and preventing aggregation of Fe ₃ O ₄ nanoparticles in the polymer matrix, this material was modified by synthesized dipodal silane (ECA), the reaction product of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) and γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTS). The chemical structure of synthesized ECA was identified by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( ¹ HNMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), respectively. Magnetic flexible polyurethane foam nanocomposites prepared by the incorporation of ECA-modified Fe ₃ O ₄ nanoparticles and characterized by their apparent density, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), magnetic properties analysis (VSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and FT-IR spectra, respectively. The TEM and SEM images indicated that the nanoparticles were dispersed homogeneously in PUF matrix. Finally, it was confirmed that the thermal and magnetic properties of magnetic PUF nanocomposite depend on the amount of magnetic nanoparticles.