Polyurethane Application Innovation: Translating Chemistry to Materials to Solve Real-World Problems

Polyurethane materials have grown rapidly in recent years and now touch most facets of modern life from comfortable sleep to energy efficiency and transportation among others. Polyurethane chemistry provides high versatility in application processes with conversion from low viscosity liquids to polymeric solids in seconds. This processing versatility enables generation of varied foam structures, filling of complex geometries, and coating of diverse substrates. Beyond processing, polyuerthane polymers can be designed to deliver a range of structures and resulting properties from hard to soft, viscoelastic to elastic, hydrophobic to hydrophilic. Examples of using these versatile processing and material properties to solve real world problems will be shared.