Patent ID: 7985779

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a cellular elastomeric polyurethane foam ball which comprises (1) forming a reaction mixture comprising a first composition and a second composition inside a spherical mold, (2) maintaining the reaction mixture inside the mold at reaction conditions including a temperature of from about 60 to about 80° C. for a time sufficient to form a cellular elastomeric polyurethane foam ball inside the mold, (3) removing the formed cellular elastomeric polyurethane foam ball from the mold, and (4) curing the formed cellular elastomeric polyurethane foam ball at a temperature for from about 60 to about 80° C. for a time of from about 60 minutes to about 12 hours, the resulting foam ball having a diameter of from about 59 to about 62 mm, a weight of from about 41 to about 45 g, a bound of from about 150 to about 180 cm when dropped from 254 cm onto horizontal, level concrete, and a forward deformation of from about 5 to about 11 mm, measured by first compressing the ball to a 25.4 mm deformation on each of the three orthogonal axes, then compressing the ball at a rate of 50.8 mm/min until a 1.36 kg load was achieved, increasing the load to 9.53 kg, and measuring the deformation from the 1.36 kg load, said first composition of the reaction mixture comprising at least one isocyanate compound and said second composition of the reaction mixture comprising at least one compound containing a functional group which is reactive with the at least one isocyanate compound of the first composition; a chain extender; at least one catalyst or catalyst mixture comprising a tertiary amine and, optionally, a metal complex, said metal of the metal complex being selected from the group consisting of tin, titanium, zirconium, zinc, bismuth, mercury, iron and combinations thereof; optionally at least one nonionic surfactant; and at least one blowing agent, wherein the chain extender of the second composition comprises an aromatic diamine selected from a group consisting of 3,5-dimethylthio-2,4-toluenediamine; 3,5-dimethylthio-2,6-toluenediamine; diethyltoluene diamine; and combinations thereof.