Polyurethanes have long been the products of choice for casting initial prototypes used for trade show display and marketing presentations.  As the performance characteristics of the products improved over time, designers began building functional prototypes for engineering testing and evaluation using thermoplastic-like polyurethanes.  Most recently, rapid casting, fast curing polyurethanes that gel in seconds and can be demolded in 15 to 30 minutes have joined the versatile range of casting systems used for prototyping.

Innovative Polymers is recognized as an industry leader in the manufacture of mercury free, RoHS-compliant polyurethanes for hand- and mass-casting, vacuum assisted and pressure casting, and machine dispensing.  The products exhibit a variety of handling, curing and performance characteristics:

Polyurethane Families

• Shore A Elastomers gel in less than 30 minutes.  After a room-temperature cure, the materials exhibit good tear strength of up to 300 pli and elongation as high as 520%.
• Advanced Shore D Polyurethanes are low viscosity systems that have gel times ranging from three to 25 minutes.  The cured materials simulate thermoplastics including polypropylene and ABS with good tensile strength and flexural modulus values ranging from 45,000 psi to 420,000 psi.  Many of the products are color matchable.
• Rapid Cast, Fast Cure Polyurethanes are formulated for automated meter-mix dispensing to accommodate <60 second gel times.  Prototypes cast from the Innovative Polymers Rapid Cast, Fast Cure family of polyurethanes simulate engineering thermoplastics with excellent flexural modulus values (180,000 psi to 450,000 psi) and high temperature performance (up to 320ºF/ 160ºC) depending on the system selected.
• High Performance Polyurethanes are easy to handle with gel times from seven to 15 minutes at room temperature and cure times of less than seven hours at 77ºF (25ºC).   Cured parts built from the materials are strong, combining flexural modulus properties up to 325,000 psi with notched Izod impact strengths of up to 6.5 ft-lb/in and heat deflection temperatures of up to 346ºF (174ºC).
• Vacuum Assisted Casting Polyurethanes feature low viscosities with rapid gel times of four to 18 minutes.  Shore A systems have high elongation and tear strength.  Shore D systems include materials with ultra-high flexural modulus, good tensile strength and high heat resistance for use at temperatures up to 199ºF (93ºC).