A New Class of Polyurethane Foam Systems for Instrument Panel Production

A modern instrument panel (IP) construction of colored skin, polyurethane foam and rigid retainer requires foam systems which combine good processing and minimal interaction with the skin. In the past, the low staining constraint only allowed a chemistry which led to high densities and/or long demold times compared with flexible foams. Through the use of new catalysts with no migration potential, in combination with modified isocyanates, significant improvements in density, demold time, and processing have become possible. Some of these systems have demold times of less than one minute, low densities and meet the requirements of the automotive industry. The foam systems produced with these new catalysts are presented in this paper.