The main goal of this project was to increase the amount of soy-polyol (SP) incorporation from 8-10%, which Ford uses, by incorporating lignin polyol (LP) as a biobased polyol. In 2024, we successfully formulated foams containing 30% SP and 30% LP designed for automotive seating. The performance of the prepared foams was assessed by measuring their densities, tensile strengths, ultimate elongations, tear strengths, compression force deflections, and support factors. In addition, we measured the hysteresis loss, shock absorption, and thermal properties of the foams. The developed foams SP30-LP30 met most of the standard requirements and improved elongation at break, but we had slightly lower tear strength.
Biodegradation testing was also conducted in compost and inoculated vermiculite (new this year) under controlled conditions at 58 ± 2°C. The results showed that the SP30-LP30 foams degraded by around 45%, while pure polyols showed 20% degradation in the control inoculated vermiculite test. Moreover, a new drop tester was designed to test small-scale foam samples. The results showed that adding soy and lignin polyols increased the foam's shock absorption capacity.