Bayer MaterialScience and Plastic Technologie Service to jointly develop and market TPE Compounds

04-May-05

Bayer MaterialScience and PTS Plastic Technologie Service Marketing & Sales GmbH have signed a cooperation agreement to jointly develop and market new thermoplastic elastomer compounds, under the trade name DesmoflexTM, based on the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) Desmopan® from Bayer MaterialScience and special thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) from PTS. This partnership will give Bayer MaterialScience the opportunity to bring innovative products with new properties onto the market and expand business in the TPU and TPE market. PTS being a leading producer of TPE compounds based on styrene block copolymers (SBCs, trade name PTS-Thermoflex) and thermoplastic vulcanized rubbers (TPVs, trade name Uniprene®). Bayer MaterialScience is also the world market leader in TPUs (trade name Desmopan®, Texin®). PTS has been producing SBC compounds with small proportions of Desmopan® for a long time. Important areas of use are indoor and outdoor applications and the engine compartment of cars. The use of TPU as one of the main components offers new, very promising possibilities for combining the properties of both components. Desmopan® has good abrasion resistance, tear strength and tear propagation resistance as well as high chemical resistance. SBCs, by contrast, are softer materials. Through intelligent compounding, innovative products with new property profiles can be developed.