Recently, the Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology announced the list of winners for the 2024 Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Awards. Miracll Chemicals Co., Ltd.’s project, “Development and Application of Foam-type Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomers,” was honored with the “Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Prize).”
The project has independently researched and overcome critical technical challenges in the field of physical foaming of thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers using supercritical carbon dioxide. The company developed the first gas-liquid-solid three-phase supercritical fluid TPU physical foaming production system, which has been successfully put into production. It also pioneered a one-step production technology and equipment combining twin-screw reactive extrusion and supercritical physical foaming, improving production efficiency by 50% and significantly reducing process energy consumption. At the same time, the project addressed common issues in traditional foaming materials production, such as poor safety, long processes, high energy consumption, and non-environmental materials.
Building on this technology, the company has successfully developed and industrialized a series of lightweight thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer materials. These products feature a high rebound resilience of 75%, a high closed-cell rate, excellent secondary expansion capabilities, low processing pressure, and outstanding yellowing resistance. With a tensile strength of 1.2 MPa, these materials represent the most outstanding lightweight elastomers in terms of comprehensive performance.
The project has achieved a leading advantage in integrated industrialization from raw materials to lightweight products. It has been granted 24 overseas authorized invention patents and 17 domestic authorized invention patents, breaking foreign technological monopolies and filling domestic gaps, reaching an industry-leading level.
The products are widely used in lightweight applications such as high-end footwear materials, automotive interiors, plastic tracks, and airless tires. They are supplied to brands including Saucony, Xtep, Jordan, Anta, Li-Ning, 361 Degrees, Erke, PUMA, K-SWISS, Dr. Kong, Belle, and Zhunzhe. To date, over 100 million pairs of shoe materials have been supplied, with more than 30 million pairs used by branded products. The market share in the ETPU industry exceeds 40%.
Post time: Jan-15-2025