Ford Motor - Graphene PU foam

At a recent conference, Ford Motor presented its innovative graphene-enhanced polyurethane (PU) foam that reduces noise in automobiles while also lowering their weight. The material was chosen as a finalist for the Polyurethane Innovation Award, given by the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) during the conference. The foam is said to be used in all of Ford’s North American vehicles.

One of the biggest challenges in developing the foam was dispersing a nanomaterial like graphene into a viscous polymer and keeping it from collapsing during mixing, said Alper Kiziltas, technical expert, sustainability and emerging materials at Ford.

Ford’s other challenge in developing the PU was conceptual. For new materials, it is commonly believed that an application will get better properties if it consumes more of the material. Counter-intuitively, Ford began lowering the concentration of graphene in the polyol, Kiziltas said. As the concentration fell, the resulting foam’s performance improved.

– Brought by the GEIC

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