CPI announces finalists for 2023 Polyurethane Innovation Award 

Washington, DC – The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) announced Sika’s SikaForce®-840 L07 and Wanhua’s WANNATE® 9131FC as the finalists for this year’s Polyurethane Innovation Award. The annual honor recognizes inventive new commercial technologies within the polyurethanes industry.
The award will be presented to the winner during the 65th Polyurethanes Technical Conference, September 25-27, in San Antonio, TX.
“Since the first Polyurethane Innovation Award was presented in 2006, polyurethane technology has developed rapidly to help address some of our most challenging issues, including energy efficiency and sustainability,” said Lee Salamone, senior director, CPI. “This year’s finalists have propelled the industry forward with their cutting-edge products. CPI congratulates Sika and Wanhua on being named the two finalists for this year and we look forward to them showcasing their innovations at the conference.”
The finalists’ descriptions of their innovations follow:
Sika: SikaForce®-840 L07 is the next evolution of the ‘Curing By Design’ technology. It is a flexible, structural two-component polyurethane adhesive, which cures at room temperature. It is designed for bonding composite or coated metal components with stable properties over a large temperature span. The adhesive is characterized by fast curing and strength build-up. While uncured, it has very good non-sag and compressibility behavior. SikaForce®-840 L07 is suitable for structural elastic bonding of composites (e.g., CFRP, GFRP) or coated metals in transportation and general industry.
Wanhua: WANNATE® 9131FC is a specially designed binder based on polymeric methylene diphenylene diisocyanate (pMDI). It is used for fabrication of molded wood pallets. The use of WANNATE® 9131FC as the binder to fabricate molded wood pallets allows for increased production output, improved product performance such as mechanical strength, water-resistance, and decreased energy consumption. WANNATE® 9131FC allows the use of raw materials such as processing wood waste (vs. virgin or new wood) to fabricate wood pallets with a reduced carbon footprint, and a formaldehyde-free process.
The winner of the Polyurethane Innovation Award is voted on by attendees of the Polyurethanes Technical Conference following the finalists’ presentations at the Opening Session. The winner will be announced during the Awards Luncheon on the conference’s last day on Sept. 27.
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