By Patrick Raleigh UT On-line news editorLeverkusen, Germany-Bayer MaterialScience AG has commissioned GEBA Kunststoffcompounds GmbH to produce coloured compounds of its new Desmopan aliphatic thermoplastic polyurethanes. The products will be used in automotive interior skins for instrument panels, gloveboxes, door trims and post finishers.GEBA, based in Ennigerloh, Germany, has extensive TPU compounding and colour matching capabilities, and includes an underwater pelletiser for special TPU grades, said Bayer. The firm, it added has recently added a dedicated production shop for compounding the new TPUs, which have high cleanliness requirements. "Our new types of TPU are lightfast and can thus be produced in bright colours. This enables us to respond to the current trend for colourful automobile interiors. We expect a sizeable increase in demand in this sector in the near future," said Jürgen Hättig, sales manager in Bayer's TPU business unit in a Bayer statement. The aliphatic TPUs have good resistance to abrasion and scratching, low-temperature flexibility and produce soft touch surfaces, claimed Bayer. They also offer a plasticiser-free and halogen-free alternative to PVC for the manufacture of moulded skins used in the vicinity of airbag flaps, the company added."
