INTERPENETRATING POLYMER NETWORKS OF POLYURETHANE AND FURFURYL ALCOHOL .2.

A feasibility study of pultrusion of fiber-reinforced polyurethane/fur furyl alcohol (PU/FA) interpenetrating polymer/network IPN composites has been made. From the viscosity study, it was found that the pot lif e of the PU/FA IPN prepolymers increased with PU content and showed hi gh reactivity at elevated temperature. It was confirmed from the morph ological study that the wetting of fibers by the PU/FA IPN resins was improved with PU content. The appearance of the tensile failure surfac es of the pultruded glass fiber-reinforced PU/FA IPN composites showed ''hackle patterns'' for PU contents below 15 phr. The mechanical prop erty study shows that the tensile strength of pultruded PU/FA IPN comp osites is the highest when the PU content is 5 phr. However, the flexu ral strength, flexural modulus and HDT decreased with PU content. The mechanical properties of various fiber-reinforced (glass, carbon, and Kevlar 49 aramid fiber) pultruded PU/FA IPN composites increased with fiber volume content.