Guenter Oertel Inducted into Polyurethane Hall of Fame

02-Oct-2003

Dr. Guenter Oertel, one of the chief developers of reaction injection molding (RIM) technology for polyurethanes, became the sixth member of the Alliance for the Polyurethanes Industry's (API) Polyurethane Hall of Fame today. He was inducted during a special ceremony at Polyurethanes Expo 2003 in Orlando, Florida. The Expo brought together more than 1,000 people involved in the polyurethanes industry worldwide to discuss recent technical developments, discoveries and trends in the polyurethanes industry. Dr. Oertel's contributions to the polyurethanes industry include more than 90 international patents, and developmental work on groundbreaking technologies such as Reaction Injection Molding, squarebloc flexible foam, dual hardness foam and 2-component spray elastomers. As a board member of Hennecke, the pioneer polyurethane machinery manufacturer, Dr. Oertel introduced new machines, which allowed polyurethane manufacturers to provide technologies resulting in such processes as high-resilient foam for automotive seating and RIM automotive fascia. Dr. Oertel dedicated himself to developing the market for polyurethanes not only from his position within Bayer but through leadership in industry groups as well. His leadership qualities during the last 20 years earned him worldwide recognition and respect. Dr. Oertel began his career under the inspiring guidance of the inventor and founder of polyurethane chemistry, Dr. Otto Bayer. Today, he is considered one of the most competent and influential personalities worldwide in the polyurethanes field - a field he helped establish. He has served as president of the European Diisocyanate and Polyols Producers Association and as president of the International Isocyanate Institute. The Polyurethane Hall of Fame, established in 1983, has five other members. They are Dr. Otto Bayer, who received 400 patents during his 55-year career at Bayer AG; Dr. Kurt Frisch, who founded Detroit University's Polymer Institute in 1968; Dr. Adnan Sayigh, founder and first director of Upjohn's Donald S. Gilmore research laboratories; Dr. Jack Buist, who conducted the earliest research on vulcaprene, the first United Kingdom polyurethane rubber; and Carlo Fiorentini, the founder of Cannon Group.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/29204/guenter-oertel-inducted-into-polyurethane-hall-of-fame.html