Timelines Highlights.

2006: "zaZen" – New ways to automotive enlightenment
A worldwide innovation from Bayer MaterialScience and Rinspeed: a holographic brake light marks the dawn of a new kind of lighting technology in automotive engineering. The third brake light glows from the seemingly weightless, transparent Makrolon® roof, turning the transparent rear window into a luminous holographic surface.

2005: Tiny tubes go large-scale
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) offer broad application potential, and they can now be manufactured for the first time on an industrial scale in high quality but at a much lower cost than ever before. Bayer MaterialScience AG plans to market CNTs worldwide under the trade name Baytubes®. Unique properties make Baytubes® an innovative material with outstanding market prospects.

2004: Quantum leap in hydrochloric acid electrolysis
The first chlorine production facility based on oxygen depolarized cathode technology goes on stream at Bayer MaterialScience's site in Brunsbüttel, Germany. The advantage of producing chlorine from hydrochloric acid is that the new electrolysis process requires about 30 percent less electrical energy than the established membrane process.

2003: One for all
Macao is introducing the world's first multi-functional chip card – the "citizen’s card". These virtually forgery-proof identity cards consist of a multi-layer system made of special Makrofol® ID film. The intelligent cards (which have the same format as a check-card) are an ID card, driver's license, health insurance card, social insurance card, student card and electronic credit card all rolled into one.

2002: Metal-faced sandwich panels with improved fire performance
Development of a new high-pressure processing technology for the incorporation of solids in rigid foams enables the manufacture of metal-faced sandwich panels with improved fire behavior by using highly effective, solid flame retardants.

2001: Start-up in China
Construction work begins on the polyisocyanate facility in Caojing, paving the way for expansion into the Asian market. An applications development lab for coating systems is erected simultaneously in Shanghai.

2000: Recognized excellence!
Bayer receives the Green Chemistry Challenge Award for environmentally friendly coatings with reduced organic solvent content.

1995: Polyurethane for everything!
The first car instrument panel made entirely of polyurethane appears. It consists of Bayfill®, Baydur® STR and a surface skin of Desmopan® produced by the powder slush process.

Makrolon® headlamp lenses
In 1994 the Opel Omega was the first car to abandon glass headlamp lenses in favor of Makrolon®.

1989: Water as a solvent
For the first time, a two-component polyurethane coating is successfully formulated and applied with water as the solvent. The combination of Bayhydrol®/Desmodur® leads to a significant reduction in solvent emissions. Numerous patent applications are filed for this technology, and the master patent is granted to Bayer in the subsequent years.

1985: Colorfast
The first non-discoloring hydroxyl polyurethane for adhesives is developed.

1982: Makrolon® – A number one hit for optical storage media
The development of the Compact Disc by Philips Electronics N.V. heralds a new era in data storage. Makrolon® polycarbonate (PC) from Bayer Polymers is used as the substrate material for optical media (CDs and DVDs).

1972: Bonds (almost) any plastic and rubber
The market responds positively to the development of the first hydroxyl polyurethane for adhesives with a particularly broad plastics and rubber adhesion spectrum (Desmocoll® 510).

1969: Plastics on the road
Breakthrough for two Bayer products in the automotive industry:
Sports cars are fitted with Bayflex® bumpers and car body parts made of Baydur® prove a success.

1965: Best foot forward
The first polyurethane molded soles for shoes herald the start of the Bayflex® success story.

1962: A big step forward: industrial-scale production
Bayer develops polyurethane elastomers (Desmopan®) suitable for thermoplastic processing. Together with the newly developed carboxylated acrylonitrile-butadiene latices, this paves the way for the industrial manufacture of latex-bonded non-woven fabrics.

1956: Better and better – PU coatings
Improvements in industrial hygiene are achieved with the introduction of Desmodur® L, a polyisocyanate with low monomer content. The simple crosslinking reaction enables the formulation of highly resistant coatings.

1953: Makrolon® (polycarbonate) is patented
Using DIAN (bisphenol A) – the condensation product from phenol and acetone that has been known for many years – and phosgene, Bayer chemist Dr. Hermann Schnell produces a polycarbonate that shows unexpectedly good properties as a plastic. Schnell's invention is patented on October 17, 1953, and later goes into production, initially in the form of wafer-thin, but extremely tough Makrofol® film. Among other things, this is used by Agfa for the production of photographic films.
The next development is aromatic polycarbonates with good plastic properties. The polycarbonate Makrolon is patented.

1950: Wire enamels, adhesives
Electrical insulating wire enamels are developed. The result is Desmodur® AP stabil with ideal properties for formulating solderable polyurethane coatings.
The first hydroxyl polyurethanes (Desmocoll® 176) for adhesives are introduced.

1948: A toast to success!
Polyurethane rigid foams are used to insulate all types of containers. One of the first applications is an insulated twin-wall beer barrel.

1942: Customization begins
Start of the development of casting elastomers and thermoplastic polyurethanes. Products are no longer limited to simple compounds; the polyaddition principle is used to create specific patterns and structures for "tailor-made" solutions.

1937: Polyurethane takes the stage
Otto Bayer (1902 - 1982) develops the novel polyisocyanate-polyaddition process and paves the way for polyurethane chemistry. Thus begins the most significant chapter in the history of modern coatings and adhesives raw materials.
The objective of his patent, published on November 13, 1937, was to produce spinnable products made of hexane-1,6-diisocyanate (HDI) and hexa-1,6-diamine (HDA).

1905: The basis for later successes
The search for a non-flammable coating raw material leads to the discovery of Cellit®. In subsequent years it is used mainly to formulate dopes for aircraft and airships.