Dow Chemical in Midland Partners with USA Luge Team at Winter Olympics

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Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, a division of DowDuPont Inc., today announced it was working with the USA Luge team and its engineers to develop advanced sleds used at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in South Korea, which runs through Sunday.

Dow Chemical and the USA Luge team have been working together since 2007 to combine science, engineering, and technology to improve sled performance on the track. The company says it applied its knowledge of physical sciences and state of the art engineering tools to develop an advanced luge sled.

For example, Dow engineers gather insights into the track dynamics through a computer-based model that helps them understand the interplay between various types of forces acting on the athlete and sled. Through its advanced manufacturing and testing capabilities, Dow creates prototypes of new designs and validates them with internal testing.

Promising ideas are further tested on the track by USA Luge athletes who are able to assess the practical advantages of the changes.

“By transforming the end-to-end process of sled R&D, design, and manufacturing, Dow helps to continually innovate the sleds that the USA Luge team uses,” says Gordy Sheer, director of marketing and sponsorship at USA Luge.

Louis A. Vega, Dow’s vice president of Olympic and sports solutions, says the partnership allows the company “to help push the limits of design possibilities which in turn has given Dow new insights for our broad portfolio of solutions. We are proud of this partnership and the team’s achievements this month.”

DowDuPont Inc., formed last year in a historic merger, is a holding company comprised of Dow and DuPont. The new company is in the process of forming three independent, publicly traded companies in agriculture, materials science, and specialty sectors.