Sports and Leisure

Improved Performance with Desmopan® and Texin® TPUs

Ski boots. Putters. Inline Skates.  These are just a few of the sports and leisure products that are made with thermoplastic polyurethane materials from Bayer.

Because of their high abrasion resistance, elasticity and flexural strength, Texin® and Desmopan® TPUs are often used to manufacture shoe soles and heel taps.  Their rigidity and toughness make them especially suitable for the shells of ski boots and inline skates.  Surfers use legs ropes made from elastic Desmopan to keep them connected to their boards.  And the low temperature impact strength of our material is invaluable in the frames of ski goggles and the housings of ski bindings.

Plenty of punishment

Soles and studs of athletic shoes, the stiletto heel of women's shoes and golf shoes all have one thing in common -- they have to take a considerable amount of punishment during everyday use. 

A new range of Desmopan grades have a 30 percent lower abrasion loss than standard TPU grades.  Parts manufactured from these grades can be readily demolded even at high wall thickness, making for economical production with short cycle times.

Transparency offers a glimpse inside

Aromatic thermoplastic polyurethanes can be highly transparent as demonstrated by new extrudable and injection-moldable Desmopan grades based on polyesters and polyethers.  They can be used to produce transparent parts that show virtually no cloudiness even at wall thicknesses of up to 6mm.  Potential applications include wear resistant 'windows' for decoration or company logos in the soles of highly stressed modern sports shoes.

More spring in the step....run...push.

The soles of modern athletic shoes need to have 'spring.'  This is where new polyether-based aliphatic grades of Desmopan TPU come into play.  First, they are light-stable and can be colored in any desired shade. Next, they have very high flexibility and elasticity combined with low density, making them ideal for thin, lightweight soles. Finally, they bond well to most conventional shoe materials, especially to other grades of thermoplastic polyurethane.  With this property profile, Desmopan TPUs are an excellent alternative to polyether block amides.

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