FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 2003

Contact:
Judy Makowski
Marketing Communications Manager
Estane® TPU
(216) 447-7392

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Noveon, Inc., recognized as the global technology leader in thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs), introduced its Estane® Easy to Extrude (ETE) TPU portfolio last Fall. This patent pending technology has now been commercialized on a global basis and expanded to include grades up to 80 Shore D. This technology has successively run on commercial extrusion lines providing superior performance and increased productivity with simplified processing.

Increased TPU hardness generally provides higher mechanical and thermal properties; the harder TPU materials typically are more difficult to process on commercial extrusion equipment. Traditional TPU materials that are in the 50 Shore D range and higher are difficult to extrude due to their narrow melt range, fast crystallization and set-up, and their tendency to freeze within the extruder. This often results in production line stoppages, increased maintenance and labor costs, and lower productivity for extrusion processors.

The Noveon line of Estane® ETE TPUs overcomes the manufacturing challenges typically associated with hard-grade extrusion. The product line now includes grades up to 80 Shore D that have been successively run on commercial extrusion lines. Pellets are melted and maintained at a usable viscosity without the appearance of crystallized chunks, gels or flushing problems during periodic line stoppages. Extrusion can be interrupted with material in the barrel for as long as 25 minutes with no restart problems or product defects.

Estane® ETE TPUs have also demonstrated from 10 to 30% increased throughput as compared to traditional TPUs. In fact side-by-side comparisons have shown Estane® ETE TPU material to meet and even exceed the throughputs of PA-11/12.

The increased property performance offered by this unique ETE TPU portfolio allows engineers to redesign to thinner profiles or cross-sections with minimal changes to the end-use physical properties and product performance. As a result, manufacturers require less material thereby reducing overall costs.

“We are very pleased with the market acceptance of our Estane® ETE portfolio of polyester- and polyether-based TPU products”, comments Ralf Huther, marketing manager for Noveon. “Customers are so excited that they are finding new opportunities that even we had not initially envisioned. The Estane® ETE TPUs can now be positioned as a cost-effective alternative to polyamides and co-polyester elastomers in applications where TPUs were previously unusable.”

Excellent transparency of the TPU materials offers customers the ability to tint or color applications to their requirements. The inherent hardness and temperature resistance of the Estane® ETE TPUs – combined with more forgiving processing characteristics – make them ideal for hose, tube, and profile extrusions, film and sheet applications, and also injection molding.

For more information about Estane® ETE TPU or to review a complete array of Noveon’s innovative TPU technologies, visit Booth #422 South at NPE-2003, or contact Noveon at 9911 Brecksville Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44141. Telephone: (888) 234-2436. On the Web, visit us at www.estane.com.

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Estane® is a trademark of Noveon, Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Noveon is a leading producer and marketer of technologically advanced specialty chemicals for a broad range of consumer and industrial applications. Previously BFGoodrich Performance Materials, Noveon was formed as an independent company on February 28, 2001.