look what we did!Innovations From Polyurethane Manufacturers

Polyurethane Foam Created From Straw Waste May Help Prevent Famine

Wheat is one of the most widely grown crops on the planet, and it’s no wonder why. Wheat is a large part of people’s diets, and it has numerous industrial applications. For example, it’s often used to produce ethanol. But did you know that harvesting wheat leads to huge waste?

For every pound of wheat harvested, one pound of wheat straw gets left behind. The sheer volume of this straw waste can be overwhelming. More than 734 million tons of it are generated every year, creating a headache for farmers and potential environmental destruction. In developing countries, for example, farmers...

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Spray Polyurethane Foam Makes Commercial Roofing Easy

Replacing an existing roof can be expensive and time consuming, especially when the goal is to cover tens of thousands of square feet. In order to balance efficiency with affordability, contractors and owners are on the hunt for materials that are faster to install, efficient, cost effective and extremely durable. While finding a product that covers multiple categories may seem impossible, the truth is that Spray Polyurethane Foam, often just called spray foam, checks all those boxes and more.

Spray foam is a roofing material commonly used for commercial, manufacturing, and industrial facilities. When properly installed and maintained, spray foam-based...

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A Young Technical Manager Helps Tackle Food Shortages Through His Work in Polyurethane

Name: Stephen MartinAge: 33Title: Technical ManagerCompany: BASF CorporationEducational Background: B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan

Like many young professionals working in polyurethane, Stephen Martin has a teacher to thank for instilling in him a life-long passion for chemistry.

“One of the most influential educators in my life was my high school chemistry teacher,” Stephen says. “She made learning chemistry fun and connected what we did in the classroom to the real world through demonstrations and lab experiments.”

Stephen says seeing the real-world application of chemistry early on in his education made him realize he could positively impact the...

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Polyurethane Takes to the Gridiron

With fall in full swing, football season is here. As your favorite teams take to the field this autumn, you may be surprised at all the places you’ll find polyurethane on the gridiron — helping to improve gameplay.

Polyurethane Helmet Caps

It may be a strange sight to see, but many teams are employing polyurethane fiber caps on top of regular football helmets to add a layer of padding to the outside surfaces. A helmet coated in soft polyurethane may help dissipate force across the entire region of the helmet rather than concentrating it in a single area. 

A well-known...

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Polyurethane Makes Cornhole Gameplay Possible

You likely know that cornhole is a favorite pastime at backyard barbecues and tailgates. But, you might be surprised to learn that polyurethane has had a helping hand in giving rise to the game’s popularity.  It’s true. Whether picking up a cornhole set at your local sporting goods store or constructing your bean bags and boards at home, polyurethane is likely a part of your new game set.

Polyurethane Cornhole Boards

Frequent readers of this blog are familiar with the use of polyurethane in the design of surfboards. A set of strong, lightweight cornhole boards, great for transporting, can be...

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Scientists Develop Sweat-Powered Polyurethane Battery

You’ve heard of renewable energy sources like the wind and the sun, but what about a stretchy battery powered by human sweat? It’s happening, and polyurethane helps make it all possible.

Who developed it?

Recently, a team of scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), developed the technology, which could have applications in the future for athletes interested in powering smart devices to measure performance. The new battery technology has the potential to limit bulky battery packs necessary to power electronic devices.

How does it work?

The wearable battery is powered by silver flakes that are contained in ink along...

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Polyurethane in Boat Hulls Can Provide a Quieter, Safer and More Comfortable Ride

When it comes to spending a leisurely summer day out on the water, polyurethane plays many important roles. For example, you might find polyurethane in lifejackets and cushions that can be used as flotation devices. You might spot it in a boat’s engine, helping to insulate wires or dampen sound. But, one vital place you may not think to look is in the hull of your craft — the portion of the boat that rides both in and on top of the water. Here, polyurethane can be found in various forms of rigidity, helping your craft achieve and maintain buoyancy in the...

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Covestro’s Chemolysis Pilot Plant Improves Polyurethane Reusability

From the cars we drive to the mattresses we sleep on, polyurethane touches upon multiple aspects of day-to-day living — helping make the products we regularly use more comfortable, durable, efficient and safe. As the role of polyurethane in daily life becomes more ubiquitous, polyurethane suppliers are working on different ways of creating a circular polyurethane supply chain — one in which the need for new fossil-based raw materials becomes less and less. In a circular supply chain, existing materials are recycled at the end of a product’s life so that they can be used in new products.

One manufacturer...

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A Young Research Scientist Ponders the Bigger Questions While Working to Make an Impact

As a young man growing up in Mexico, Jorge Vazquez says he was always curious about the world around him and inquisitive, often asking about big picture concepts — like the purpose of existence and the interconnectedness of humanity.