BASF and Future Mind collaborate for a smoother serve

• Roller of OMNI table tennis ball machine made with BASF’s Elastollan^® Soft 45 A P
• Elastollan provides excellent wear resistance, which reduces the frequency of changing rollers

Shanghai, China – 19 May 2022 – The roller of the OMNI table tennis ball machine (OMNI) by Future Mind is now made with BASF’s Elastollan^® Soft 45 A P. Elastollan’s excellent wear-, abrasion-, impact-, and tear-resistance reduces the frequency of changing the OMNI’s rollers.

“OMNI’s ball speed is 2-15 m/s. Its ball rotation is 0-100 revolutions/sec, and the ball frequency is 30-90 balls/min. The roller is also in contact with the table tennis ball. As such, the roller can wear out quickly,” said Zhang Haibo, Chief Executive Officer, Future Mind. “With this challenge in mind, we collaborated with BASF to develop a heavy-duty roller that could better withstand the constant and forceful contact between the ball and roller. This in turn, would help our customers reduce the machine’s maintenance cost.”

Elastollan Soft 45 A P is a transparent polyester-polyurethane elastomer. The high-performance material solution possesses good oil- and grease-resistance. It is also easy to process by injection molding.

“The Elastollan grade used for the roller has typically been used for shoe applications partly owing to its good damping behavior and good elastic recovery with resistance over a wide range of temperatures. As these same mechanical properties are beneficial for the roller application, we collaborated with Future Mind and optimized it for the specific requirements for use in the roller application,” said Marilyn Lye, Vice President, Business Management Industrial, Performance Materials Asia Pacific, BASF.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Around 111,000 employees in the BASF Group contribute to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio comprises six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €78.6 billion in 2021. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

About BASF’s Performance Materials division

BASF’s Performance Materials division encompasses the entire materials’ know-how of BASF regarding innovative, customized plastics under one roof. Globally active in four major industry sectors – transportation, construction, industrial applications and consumer goods – the division has a strong portfolio of products and services combined with deep understanding of application-oriented system solutions. Key drivers of profitability and growth are our close collaboration with customers and a clear focus on solutions. Strong capabilities in R&D provide the basis to develop innovative products and applications. In 2021, the Performance Materials division achieved global sales of €7.29 bn. More information: www.plastics.basf.com.

About Future Mind

Shanghai Future Mind. Co., Ltd has a young R & D team with high standard and high education. It has strong development ability in the professional technical fields such as artificial intelligence core algorithm, robot control and human-computer interaction. It has launched an intelligent platform integrating professional software and hardware such as high-speed motion dynamic capture of objects and human posture recognition. These technologies and products are currently applied to the field of table tennis. The intelligent system in the scenes of professional training and entertainment of table tennis provides an overall intelligent solution integrating software and hardware. For more information on Future Mind, click here.