Kitchen sponges, ski boots, luxury mattresses and nuclear submarine missile housings have something in common – they all contain polyurethane. In just over 80 years, polyurethane has gone from being undiscovered to one of the most widely used substances on Earth, largely due to some valuable characteristics: flexibility and adaptability, but also durability and strength. Its ability to be stretched, bent, stressed and flexed without breaking, while in fact returning to its original condition, is what makes it so chemically unique, yet widespread and useful in its application. Likewise, a modern economy flexes, ... (full story)