Study on fabric/polyurethane high strength porous composite foam: Pb2+ adsorption properties and mechanical properties

Abstract In this paper, by compounding different size of polyester nonwovens and nylon nonwovens with melamine‐bentonite composite PU foam, a high‐impact polyurethane composite material with excellent mechanical strength and good adsorbability was prepared. The cellular structure and mechanical property of PU foam was influenced by the composition of two different fabrics. With the adding of fabric, the cell size is decreased and a boundary‐like structure is formed at the fabric‐foam interface. The closer to the interface, the smaller and more uneven the foam cell is. The mechanical property of the composites was improved by adding fabric. The lower density of the composite surface, the better compression resistance the material is. The compression strength of 200 g/cm 2 nylon nonwovens composite PU foam was 44.01 kPa, which was 213.83% of Neat PU. The optimum adsorption conditions, such as pH, adsorption time and initial concentration were investigated. The results showed that the Pb 2+ could be removed effectively by fabric composite PU foam. Langmuir model, Freundlich model and adsorption kinetics model were used to evaluate the adsorption properties of fabric‐PU foam.