High-tech soccer ball - Tango 12, a result of collaboration between adidas and Bayer MaterialScience.
LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY: The high-tech ball - Tango 12, a result of collaboration between adidas and Bayer MaterialScience, has surface texture, which is reminiscent of the structure of denim. It is responsible for the particularly good flight properties of the ball. The properties of soccer balls have improved continuously since synthetic materials were first used in ball technology. As soccer fans watch the UEFA EURO 2012 in June, the ball “Tango 12” will already prove a winner.
“The outer shell of the Tango 12 consists of a total of five polyurethane layers based on raw materials from our Impranil product line. These layers provide for optimal contact with the player’s foot and for very good control in all weather conditions. The innermost layer is an adhesion coating that connects the textile substrate to the layers above,” explained Thomas Michaelis, Project Manager, Ball Development, Bayer MaterialScience.
On top of this is a syntactic foam layer, roughly one millimetre thick, made up of millions of gas-filled cells. The ball therefore quickly regains its spherical shape after being kicked, ensuring optimal flight. The ball is finished off with three compact polyurethane layers of various thicknesses. They make the surface highly resistant to external factors and abrasion, but also highly elastic, ensuring the ball retains its unique appearance over the long term.
The individual panels of the ball shell are bonded together using patented thermal bonding technology and thus absorb essentially no moisture. As a result, the ball is no more than 0.1 per cent heavier even in heavy rain and is almost completely waterproof. A raw material development from Bayer MaterialScience is used here, too - the thermoactivated adhesive is based on a waterborne polyurethane dispersion from the dispercoll U product line. The adidas Tango 12 underwent strict testing during its two-year development phase.
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