Bayer MaterialScience Puts Its Polyurethane Composite Expertise on Display

Orlando, FL, January 30, 2013 --(PR.com)-- From filament winding to long-fiber injection molding, polyurethanes can be processed in a variety of ways to meet the many needs of manufacturers serving a broad range of markets. Designers and OEMs in the appliance, automotive, construction, furniture and recreation industries routinely turn to Bayer MaterialScience LLC as their polyurethane supplier to take advantage of Bayer’s wealth of high-performance polyurethane raw materials and systems.

Bayer’s materials and technologies are expanding the role of polyurethanes in composites. Bayer’s polyurethane solutions in composites help create lighter, stronger materials that offer excellent mechanical properties and high impact resistance, even at extremely low temperatures.

Attendees of Composites 2013 have the opportunity to see some of Bayer’s polyurethane materials in action at the Bayer booth, #1033, during the show.

Filament Winding
Bayer MaterialScience developed a proprietary urethane formulation tailored specifically for the filament winding process, a common process for manufacturing cylindrical structures such as pipes and tanks with composite resins. Filament winding offers a fast cycle time and produces parts that are strong and lightweight. Some of these filament wound parts ­– a low pressure bottle, a utility pole and a pipe ­– will be on hand at Bayer’s booth.

Pultrusion
Processing polyurethanes via the pultrusion process results in dramatically stronger end products. Additionally, the polyurethane pultrusion process uses no styrene, making it more environmentally friendly.

Bayer will showcase several pultruded polyurethane parts at its booth. Visitors can see firsthand pultruded polyurethanes in Gulf Synthetics’ PURLoc™ sea wall and several innovative and cost-saving applications from Conforce – a marine shipping container floor, lightweight shelving and a forest-saving and worklife-extending lightweight flooring system for tractor trailers. Superior strength and low thermal conductivity also make polyurethane pultrusion technology ideal for window frames. See it for yourself at booth #1033, where attendees interested in windows will find Graham Architectural Products’ GThurm™ window and frame, and also a Deceuninck INNERGY™ rigid, lightweight window stiffener.

Resin Transfer Molding
Bayer pioneered the use of polyurethane resin in the resin transfer molding (RTM) technology process. A key advantage of using polyurethane resin in the RTM process is its improved physical properties, such as strength and stiffness, compared with other resins, such as unsaturated polyester or vinylester. The superior toughness of composite parts manufactured with polyurethane through the RTM process has opened the technology up to completely new markets, including ballistics and sporting goods applications. Bayer will have two other applications, a hydrogen tank and a composite manhole cover, on display.

Long-fiber Injection
Long-fiber injection technology (LFI) provides manufacturers and designers a wide breadth of options. LFI can produce parts with nearly vertical walls, as well as very large parts not currently possible through other common manufacturing processes. LFI allows designers to decorate parts inside the mold using a polyurethane elastomer skin, two-component polyurethane paints, films, fabric or vinyl skins.

To demonstrate LFI, Bayer is featuring applications created using the LFI process: a complete harvester roof made on the largest LFI press in the world, and spa cabinet sections from Dynasty Spas – all produced by Romeo RIM.

Baypreg®
Bayer MaterialScience developed its Baypreg two-component spray polyurethane system to be utilized with different combinations of reinforcing mats and honeycomb cores. The resulting composite possesses high load-bearing properties for horizontal parts. This system is often used in automotive applications. A load floor from Ford and one from the Chevy VOLT will be featured at the booth. Load floor applications benefit from the Baypreg composite’s extremely high strength-to-weight ratio.

Reaction Injection Molding
Bayer has long produced custom performance-enhancing polyurethane resins and systems for use in the reaction injection molding (RIM) process. In its booth, Bayer will feature a large and intricate Dodge Viper bumper molded through the one-shot RIM process by Romeo RIM.

Parts Molded Live from Bayer Materials on the Show Floor
See tractor hoods molded live from Bayer polyurethane systems daily during the show in the Lean Green Molding Machine (Booth #737). Stop by Bayer’s booth (#1033) for a schedule of molding times or follow us on Twitter (@Bayer4materials) for show updates.

“Bayer’s proven history of polyurethane expertise translates into trusted and cutting-edge materials and technologies for composites. Manufacturers turn to Bayer’s polyurethanes to produce exceptional composite parts,” said Harry George, head, New Applications Group, Bayer MaterialScience LLC.

To learn more about Bayer’s polyurethane composite materials and see applications in person, visit Bayer’s booth, #1033, at Composites 2013.