title: Polyurethanes: versatile materials and sustainable problem solvers for today's challenges.
abstract: Polyurethanes are the only class of polymers that display thermoplastic, elastomeric, and thermoset behavior depending on their chemical and morphological makeup. In addition to compact polyurethanes, foamed variations in particular are very widespread, and they achieve their targeted properties at very low weights. The simple production of sandwich structures and material composites in a single processing step is a key advantage of polyurethane technology. The requirement of energy and resource efficiency increasingly demands lightweight structures. Polyurethanes can serve this requirement by acting as matrix materials or as flexible adhesives for composites. Polyurethanes are indispensable when it comes to high-quality decorative coatings or maintaining the value of numerous objects. They are extremely adaptable and sustainable problem solvers for today's challenges facing our society, all of which impose special demands on materials.
authors.affiliation: Bayer MaterialScience AG, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany. hans-wilhelm.engels@bayer.com
authors.forename: Hans-Wilhelm
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Engels
authors.forename: Hans-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Pirkl
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Albers
authors.forename: Rolf W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Albach
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Casselmann
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dormish
keywords: adhesives; coatings; elastomers; flexible foams; rigid foams