BASF will once again be present with its polyurethane experts at the 2015 UTECH International Polyurethane Exhibition and Conference in Maastricht (NL). For the first time, the company will display a new roof module based on the PU system Elastoflex E.  Moreover, the Airbumps made of Elastollan, BASF’s TPU, will be shown – they have been developed for the Citroën C4 Cactus’ exterior. At booth 1390 in the MECC in Maastricht, BASF will be exhibiting the new high-performance insulation SLENTITE but also various industrial applications using the PU systems Elastocoat C, Elastolit D and Elasturan. These include components for wind turbines, housings and mining sieves. At an exhibited mattress, the BASF experts for PU basic products discuss the options that the formulation of innovative isocyanate mixtures offer in combination with adapted polyols.

At the UTECH conference, BASF experts will explain details about SLENTITE (M. Fricke), the surface treatment for the application of polyurea spray coats (A. vanOoursouw), the current developments at REACH (K. Kroesen), and about additives for improved PU properties in automotive applications (C. Tartarini).

Roof module: First honeycomb sandwich with class A film on an automobile roof
With the roof module for the next generation of a compact by a German premium car manufacturer, BASF presents a technical innovation. It has been developed with the PU foam system Elastoflex E by the company Fehrer Composite Components. The roof module is currently the lightest roof construction for passenger cars on the market and consists of a glass fiber reinforced honeycomb sandwich structure which has been pressed together with a solid-colored class A film by means of PU spray impregnation. The module is about 30 percent lighter than the standard roof in the preceding model. The specific Elastoflex E polyurethane system has been adjusted in such a way that it can be optimally processed in every single manufacturing step, allowing short cycle times and good adhesion properties.

Industrial PU applications
The UTECH exhibits for different industrial applications comprise among others: a pultruded wind blade root section made of Elastocoat C by FIBERLINE Composites A/S. The properties that count here are high interlaminar shear strength and fast production line speed. A housing made of Elastolit D is on display, where the rigid duromer integral foam is not only paintable but shows high flowability during processing and good self-releasing properties. A mining sieve based on Elasturan combines wear resistance, very good tear strength and high rebound.

Heat insulation: PU aerogel for high performance insulation
The first polyurethane aerogel SLENTITE in the form of a stable panel will also be exhibited at the UTECH. SLENTITE is a high-performance product for building insulation. It provides very thin insulation, very good moisture regulation particularly for the interior, rugged panels and gives the architect a great deal of design freedom. With a lambda value of less than 17 mW/(m⋅K), SLENTITE provides the best insulation performance to date for a fabricated panel. Today's standard insulation panels are in a range of 21 to 40 mW/(m⋅K), which means that SLENTITE is also extremely space-saving. The compressive strength of > 300 kPa is twice that of standard PU insulation panels. The panels are dust-free and can be easily sawn, milled, drilled and bonded. On completion and start-up of a pilot plant this year, the first sample quantities will be available for selected partners.

New mattress formulations
The exhibited mattress shows the innovative formulation concept around the isocyanate Lupranat MX 118/1. By combining this isocyanate mixture with specifically developed polyol components, chemical-viscoelastic and pneumatic-viscoelastic foams, highly elastic and hypersoft foams can be produced in high quality. The simplified formulation concepts lead to easier processing and a high quality standard of the final products while maintaining a high flexibility for the customer.