Advanced Polyurethane Materials for Flawless Motion

Following the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia on Thursday, 14 June, all eyes turned to the ball once more.

"Telstar 18" proudly continues the "Official World Cup Balls" series that Adidas has produced since 1970, when it forever changed football design from the iconic original "Telstar" made of 32 black and white panels. Thomas Michelis, Head of Textile Coatings EMLA at Covestro, a company that has been developing and supplying advanced materials for Adidas footballs for over 30 years, said: "The manufacture of Telstar 18 benefits from the latest developments in polyurethane-coated textile products, which give the ball optimal performance, flawless movement characteristics and superior water resistance. Its outer surface features Impranil® layers and Dispercoll® adhesives. "Telstar 18" makes it a high-tech sports product and light years ahead of the stitched leather balls I played with as a child. Modern synthetic materials enable players to achieve predictable ball performance in all weather conditions. This is something anyone who has experienced wet footballs will appreciate." The innermost layer of the ball's surface is an adhesive coating that bonds the fabric sublayer to the layers above. Above this is a polyurethane foam layer approximately one millimetre thick, composed of millions of gas-filled microspheres. After this foam deforms due to the ball being struck, it is extremely elastic, returning immediately to its spherical shape to provide optimal trajectory. The outer surface consists of two compact polyurethane layers of varying thickness. These layers provide superior resistance to external damage and wear, and give the ball a high degree of flexibility.