If soccer fans do want to sit, they’re in good hands

With the excitement high, many of the fans attending the World Cup soccer matches in South Africa probably won't have much use for their seats. But should they need a break, they can rest assured those seats were molded with a recipe of color, FR, and UV additives designed to keep them safe, attractive, and comfortable.

Three of the World Cup stadiums, including the new Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa, are filled with polypropylene seating that is not only colorful but also well protected against fire and the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The seats were molded with colorants, flame retardants, and UV stabilizers supplied by Clariant Masterbatches (Muttenz, Switzerland).

The quiet before the vuvuzelas...

Clariant won the stadium seating contracts because of its "technical expertise, reputation, product value proposition, and the fact that we could supply not only color but also a UV stabilizer and flame retardant in a single combibatch," explains Mayendran Pillay, head of Clariant's Masterbatch business unit in Southern Africa. A "combibatch" is a custom masterbatch containing color and one or more functional additives.

The Moses Mabhida stadium, which opened in November 2009, and the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, which opened in January 2010, are completely new venues, built in the run-up to the soccer championships. The Loftus Versfeld stadium in Tshwane/Pretoria is an older facility, recently renovated, with new seats installed in March of this year. Masterbatches were supplied in many different colors including various shades of blue, grey, white, green, orange, and brown. Flame retardants meet the requirements of the DIN 4102 B1 standard. The UV stabilizers ensure the seats can withstand years of exposure to the South African sun.