As a new foreign trade service provider driven by both technology transformation and foreign trade services, HiSiaddi has established a "1+2+3+4=1" service system and can supply original factory products of many well-known brands of polyether polyols.
As a technology-driven foreign trade service provider, HiSiaddi has repeatedly proposed polyether polyol formula optimization schemes and application improvement recommendations through technological transformation cooperation with manufacturers and accurate insight into market demands. The following is a consulting case of formula optimization for polyether polyols delivered by HiSiaddi.
Please contact HiSiaddi customer service if you need more formula optimization consulting services.
ThermoCar is a leading supplier of mid-to-high-end cold chain vehicle thermal insulation materials in Southern Europe, producing rigid foam for cold chain truck bodies and RV partition insulation matching the original equipment of Iveco and Fiat. Its products comply with EU REACH, RoHS, low-VOC automotive interior control standards and mandatory thermal conductivity limits set by OEMs, with an annual procurement volume of high-end rigid foam polyether polyols reaching 165 tons. It had long sourced customized rigid foam polyethers from BASF. Faced with surging European chemical raw material prices, a minimum order threshold of 35 tons and sea transportation delivery cycles over 70 days, the customer purchased refined modified domestic rigid foam polyether polyols via HiSiaddi. The first batch of 30 tons of raw materials arrived at the customer’s plant and entered mass production using the original mature BASF formula and automated foaming workshop processes. After 3 consecutive days of continuous production, all three foaming lines shut down abnormally, with nearly 5 tons of semi-finished foam scrapped and the scheduled delivery date of cold chain vehicle bodies to OEMs delayed. The customer’s R&D team spent two weeks troubleshooting yet failed to identify the root cause, and fully entrusted HiSiaddi’s technical team to travel to the Italian factory to conduct on-site technical diagnosis and full-chain rectification.
Customer Status: European formula engineers are proficient in end product design but lack familiarity with impurity systems and molecular structures of domestic polyethers and their differences from imported BASF raw materials. Domestic raw material manufacturers only guarantee national standard physical and chemical indicators without downstream foaming formula application R&D capabilities, and can only simply adjust raw material hydroxyl values to resolve terminal formula adaptation and on-site production operational issues.
Under identical mixing ratios and temperature control conditions, foam produced with domestic polyethers exhibited a 24-hour room-temperature shrinkage rate exceeding 3.2% (customer internal control standard ≤0.8%), with irregular hidden cracks at the foam core. After vehicle installation, the thermal insulation layer detached under alternating cold and hot environments. Root Cause: Excessive residual potassium and sodium ions (7.2ppm) in domestic polyethers (BASF raw materials ≤2ppm). Trace metal ions accelerate post-crosslinking reactions, making gelation rates far exceed foaming rates and leading to abnormally high closed-cell ratios, which cause negative pressure shrinkage and cracking after cooling. Meanwhile, high trace small-molecule monool impurities disrupt the balance between cream time and gel time, rendering the original formula catalyst system ineffective.
The customer’s foam thermal conductivity standard is ≤0.022W/(m·K), yet measured finished products ranged from 0.025 to 0.027W/(m·K) with uneven cell sizes and local large voids, failing incoming inspection at Iveco and preventing vehicle bodies from warehousing. Root Cause: Domestic polyether moisture content reached 0.052% (custom requirement ≤0.03%). Excess moisture reacts with MDI to generate excessive CO₂, disrupting the bubble stabilization system of full-water foaming, resulting in irregular cell structures, reduced compactness and drastically degraded thermal insulation performance.
Volatile emissions from finished products baked at 80°C exceeded ELV limits, resulting in failed OEM environmental sampling and suspended approval for mass production of new products. Disassembly Analysis: Domestic polyethers retain trace incompletely stripped propylene oxide and low-molecular aldehyde by-products at the molecular chain ends, while BASF raw materials undergo multi-stage vacuum devolatilization to eliminate such impurities. The original formula lacked matched adsorption additives, leading to continuous release of small molecules and VOC under high temperatures.
HiSiaddi formed a special technical team consisting of polyether synthesis engineers, PU formula engineers and on-site production process specialists to deliver closed-loop optimization covering upstream raw material refinement rectification, terminal formula system optimization and factory production SOP revision, while retaining the core framework of the customer’s original product formula and avoiding adjustments to the existing additive procurement system.
1. The remaining 22 tons of in-stock goods were transported back to cooperative factories for secondary deep vacuum devolatilization with extended negative-pressure distillation duration to remove residual propylene oxide and low-molecular aldehyde impurities. An ion adsorption filtration process was deployed to remove potassium and sodium metal ions from the system. After rectification, potassium and sodium ion content dropped to 2.1ppm and moisture was controlled at 0.028%, fully meeting the customer’s internal customized control indicators.
2. Minor adjustments were made to the ethylene oxide block ratio at the polyether chain ends to slightly optimize raw material reaction activity and narrow the activity gap with BASF grades. Simultaneously, CNAS-accredited English retest COAs covering full impurity, hydroxyl value and viscosity indicators were issued.
1. Shrinkage & Cracking Optimization: Reduce the original organotin catalyst dosage by 18% and compound with 0.12% delayed amine balanced catalyst to balance foaming and gelation rates and suppress excessive closed-cell ratios. Add 0.35% special silicone surfactant to stabilize cell nucleation and improve cell fineness.
2. Thermal Conductivity Optimization: Adjust the water dosage in the polyether blend down by 0.2 parts to offset side reactions caused by slightly elevated inherent moisture in raw materials, stabilize CO₂ generation, ensure uniform and dense cell structures and lower thermal conductivity.
3. VOC Control Optimization: Add 0.2% porous adsorbent powder additive to the formula to adsorb trace volatile impurities from raw materials and inhibit small molecule precipitation under high-temperature baking to meet EU automotive interior VOC control standards.
1. Feeding Temperature Adjustment: The original constant feeding temperature of 23°C for formulated materials was revised to preheat polyether white blends to 26°C to address uneven mixing caused by high low-temperature viscosity of domestic polyethers. The temperature of MDI black material was reduced by 2°C to mitigate excessive initial reaction heat release and local scorching cracking risks.
2. Automated Equipment Parameter Correction: Lower the high-pressure foaming machine black-white material mixing pressure from 120bar to 105bar and extend static mixing duration by 0.8s to improve material mixing uniformity and eliminate abnormal local foaming voids.
3. New Raw Material Warehouse Regulations: Polyether raw materials shall be stored in sealed constant-temperature warehouses at 22°C and consumed within 72 hours after opening to avoid moisture absorption and rebound moisture content. HiSiaddi issued Italian-English bilingual production operation SOPs and conducted hands-on training for factory operators and quality control personnel on-site.
1. Sample Verification: Laboratory small-scale and pilot foaming tests using optimized modified polyethers and revised formulas yielded foam with a shrinkage rate of 0.71% and thermal conductivity of 0.0218W/(m·K), with all VOC indicators compliant and passing third-party authoritative laboratory testing in Italy. The 5 tons of scrapped semi-finished products in inventory were reworked via supplementary additive blending to become qualified finished goods, recovering approximately 11,000 EUR in material losses.
2. Mass Production & Delivery After Rectification: The fully rectified 30 tons of raw materials were mass-produced in four batches across all production lines. No shrinkage, cracking or thermal conductivity non-compliance issues occurred over 15 consecutive production shifts. Cold chain thermal insulation vehicle bodies successfully passed incoming material audits at Iveco OEMs and were delivered to vehicle manufacturers on schedule.
3. Long-Term Strategic Cooperation Established: Localized procurement costs dropped by 29% compared to original BASF raw materials, and sea transportation delivery cycles were shortened from 70 days to 31 days. The customer terminated subsequent European import orders and signed a 165-ton annual polyether procurement long-term agreement with HiSiaddi. The same optimized grade was fully adopted for cold chain projects of its Spanish subsidiary the following year.
1. Common Industry Pain Points: Domestic polyether manufacturers produce to national mass production standards, focusing on basic indicators such as hydroxyl value and viscosity, yet lack refined impurity control tailored to high-end European vehicle foaming scenarios. Manufacturers only produce raw materials without mastery of downstream foaming formulas and production processes. Overseas mid-to-high-end automotive supporting customers operate with fixed formulas and production line processes developed around international giant raw materials, and direct substitution with domestic raw materials frequently triggers mass production failures.
2. Mid-to-High-End Customer Procurement Characteristics: Raw material quality is directly tied to vehicle OEM supply qualifications. Order breach and brand losses resulting from unqualified finished products far outweigh raw material price differences. Customers prioritize product performance, environmental compliance and mass production stability, with high tolerance for minor raw material price hikes.
3. Core Value of HiSiaddi: HiSiaddi delivers full-chain technical services covering upstream polyether refinement and modification, downstream terminal formula design and on-site production process adjustment, with dual technical reserves in raw material synthesis and PU application. It bridges application barriers arising from indicator gaps between domestic and imported raw materials and provides one-stop solutions to all-dimensional technical challenges during localized substitution.
Please contact HiSiaddi customer service if you need more formula optimization consulting services.
+86-13120989737 
info@hisiaddi.com 
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