Thermoplastic polyurethanes commercially available

Much more important is the hydrogenation product of butynediol, 1,4-butanediol [110-63-4]. The intermediate 2-butene-l,4-diol is also commercially available but has found few uses. 1,4-Butanediol, however, is used widely in polyurethanes and is of increasing interest for the preparation of thermoplastic polyesters, especially the terephthalate. Butanediol is also used as the starting material for a further series of chemicals including tetrahydrofuran, y-butyrolactone, 2-pyrrohdinone, A/-methylpyrrohdinone, and A/-vinylpyrrohdinone (see Acetylene-DERIVED chemicals). The 1,4-butanediol market essentially represents the only growing demand for acetylene as a feedstock. This demand is reported (34) as growing from 54,000 metric tons of acetylene in 1989 to a projected level of 88,000 metric tons in 1994. 

Global consumption of thermoplastic mbbers of all types is estimated at about 600,000 t/yr (51). Of this, 42% was estimated to be consumed in the United States, 39% in Western Europe, and 19% in Japan. At present, the woddwide market is estimated to be divided as follows styrenic block copolymers, 48% hard polymer/elastomer combinations, 26% thermoplastic polyurethanes, 12% thermoplastic polyesters, 4% and others, 9%. The three largest end uses were transportation, 23% footwear, 18% and adhesives, coatings, etc, 16%. The ranges of the hardness values, prices, and specific gravities of commercially available materials are given in Table 4. 

Commercially available flame retardants include chlorine- and bromine-containing compounds, phosphate esters, and chloroalkyl phosphates. Recent entry into the market place is a blend of an aromatic bromine compound and a phosphate ester (DE-60F Special) for use in flexible polyurethane foam (8). This paper describes the use of a brominated aromatic phosphate ester, where the bromine and phosphorus are in the same molecule, in high temperature thermoplastic applications. 

A number of different classes of thermoplastic elastomers are currently commercially available. These include styrenics, polyurethanes, polyesters, polyolefin, and polyamides. 

The thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (Chen et al 1992) exhibit very similar morphologies to that of the SBS or SIS and, similarly to them, allow the characteristics of both phases, crystalline and glassy, to be combined. Polyurethane adhesives can also be classified in the Adhesives implemented by Chemical Process category that can induce certain confusion. To be consistent with our classification one must consider that two types of polyurethane-based adhesives can be commercially available the ones that exhibit semicrystalline properties that can be implemented via a physical process, and the seconds with dormant reactive functions that can react via a chemical process to lead to a network. 

In fact, thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), a subcategory of TPEs, were among the first to be made commercially available. In the United States, TPUs were marketed for the first time in the 1960s by Goodrich, Mobay, and Upjohn under the trade names Estane , Texin , and Pellethane , respectively. In 1972, DuPont commercialized thermoplastic poly(ether ester)s derived from... 

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