From automotive breakthroughs to innovative solutions for polyurethane waste, July brought exciting progress in polyurethane technology. This versatile material continues to push boundaries, proving it’s not only part of our daily lives but also a key driver of future innovation and sustainability.
Durable and fashionable innovation
Polyurethane is helping shape the automotive industry in new ways. A newly launched car paint protection film made from thermoplastic polyurethane offers self-healing properties, UV resistance and impact protection.
Meanwhile, the new Jeep Compass 4xe model uses fabrics coated with polyurethane for its seats, which makes the vehicle’s interior twice as durable as traditional fabrics and much easier to clean. Read more about this via ABC, Automotori, DMove, TechnoAndroid, and Tutto Fuori Strada.
Polyurethane is also proving its use in Hollywood. The cape worn by Superman in the newly released film of the same name is made from a fabric that contains polyurethane, which gives it elasticity and the desired drape effect.
New frontiers in sustainability
This month also saw new strides in polyurethane recycling. Murcia and Interempresas reported that the Itene Technology Centre has developed a new process for recycling polyurethane, with the aim of recovering plastics that could not previously be mechanically recycled.
In a similar trend, People’s Daily and Xinhua reported on the development of an artificial enzyme that can degrade polyurethane plastics over ten times faster than it’s natural counterpart, greatly improving polyurethane’s waste recycling potential.
