Bayer polycarbonate sheet contributes to revolutionary lighting design of new Jacuzzi® Hot Tubs

PITTSBURGH, July 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- From the glass control screen to its smartphone app, the new J-500™ Collection from Jacuzzi is clearly not your father's hot tub. Also contributing to its futuristic luxury and style is an advanced array of LED exterior lights that are integrated into its CurvaLux™ Siding. These lighting elements utilize Bayer MaterialScience LLC polycarbonate sheet, which offered the design freedom, performance and aesthetics required for this application.

The Jacuzzi design team considered several materials for the lighting. Glass, they determined, would be heavy, prone to breakage and difficult and expensive to fabricate into curved sections. Acrylic carried some of the same negative attributes, along with concerns about flammability and UL code compliance.

After meeting with Bayer technical experts, Jacuzzi selected Makrolon^® Lumen XT polycarbonate sheet.

"Thanks in part to the exterior LED lighting design and a few other features, the sales of the J-500™ Collection greatly surpassed our sales expectation for a high end product in our market, which shows consumer value in our design innovation," said Shawn Czarnecki, director of strategic sourcing.

Makrolon^® Lumen XT sheet, designed specifically for LED lighting, offers a range of diffusion levels with optimized light transmission, delivering excellent quality and performance. The translucent sheet's optimized surface texture and advanced diffusion technology eliminates hot spots and shadowing. As an additional advantage, Lumen XT can be cold formed in various shapes for design and functionality without sacrificing high-diffusion performance. Lumen XT offers a UL listed flammability rating that is higher than competitive products – an important attribute for this application.

"While our markets are different, Bayer and Jacuzzi have a number of similarities. Our organizations have been in business for over fifty years, yet we never stop innovating, bringing to market high-quality products and providing excellent service, resulting in a customer experience that is second-to-none," said Bill Pelke, western field market development, semi-finished sheet products, North America, Bayer MaterialScience LLC. "We appreciate the confidence Jacuzzi has in our materials and technical expertise, and are pleased to be associated with a product that sets the standard in the hot tub category."

About Bayer MaterialScience:
With 2014 sales of EUR 11.7 billion, Bayer MaterialScience is among the world's largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, electrical and electronics, construction and sports and leisure industries. Bayer MaterialScience has 30 production sites around the globe and employed approximately 14,200 people at the end of 2014. Bayer MaterialScience is a Bayer Group company. Sustainability is central to the company's business and is based around the key areas of innovation, product stewardship, social responsibility and respect for the environment.

Contact: 
Cindy Race, Phone: 413-528-7812
Email: [email protected] 
General media inquiries can be directed to 412-777-5200.

For more information about Bayer MaterialScience LLC Makrolon^® polycarbonate sheet products, call 1-800-628-5084 or visit www.sheffieldplastics.com. 

For more information about Jacuzzi^® Products, visit www.jacuzzi.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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SOURCE Bayer MaterialScience LLC

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