A natural fibre-reinforced thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) has been launched on the market by Desmovit, a cooperation between German companies Geba Kunststoffcompounds (Ennigerloh; www.geba-plast.com) and Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen; www.bayerbms.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 06.11.2008. The "Desmovit DP R Eco" line is composed of BMS’ "Desmopan" TPU combined with a 10%, 15% or 20% share of natural fibres. The new product is exclusively produced and sold by the mid-sized Geba, which specialises in the development and compounding of thermoplastic engineering plastics and has production sites in Austria, Germany and Spain.

The company says the new environmentally-friendly products have lower density and improved mechanical properties compared with those that are reinforced with fibreglass. Because of its reduced weight, Desmovit says the series is particularly suitable for products and components in the automotive or sports and leisure sector, including walking sticks, tent poles, shoe soles, bicycle helmets, saddlebags, housing, car underbody protection and gearshift lever knobs.