TPU market prospects can be expected to replace traditional plastics to expand innovative applicatio

China Chemical Industry News: As an industry that was once monopolized by foreign companies, my country's polyurethane elastomer industry has developed rapidly in recent years and has now become the world's largest polyurethane elastomer market growth area. At the 2019 annual meeting of the Elastomer Specialized Committee of China Polyurethane Industry Association held in Xiamen recently, participating experts shared new progress and new directions in polyurethane elastomer technology innovation and product development.

1. The market is developing rapidly

Liu Jing, a senior engineer of the Elastomer Committee of the Polyurethane Association, said that thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU) has excellent wear resistance, high tensile strength, high elongation, oil resistance, low temperature resistance, weather resistance, and Ozone has outstanding performance and a wide range of hardness. In recent years, it has been widely used in many areas of the national economy, such as shoemaking, medical and health, and clothing fabrics.

At present, the global TPU market is mainly concentrated in Europe, the United States and the Asia-Pacific region. Among them, the Asian region led by China is the world's leading and fastest-rising regional market. According to statistics from the Elastomer Specialized Committee of China Polyurethane Industry Association, in 2018, the total consumption of polyurethane products in my country reached 11.3 million tons, of which the consumption of polyurethane elastomer was about 1.1 million tons, accounting for about 10% of the total consumption of polyurethane.

Lu Guohui, secretary general of China Polyurethane Industry Association, said that my country is currently the world's largest polyurethane producer and consumer. Since the "13th Five-Year Plan", the growth rate of my country's polyurethane industry has shifted from high to low, and polyurethane elastomers and other markets have entered a period of innovative development and improvement. , Towards the direction of high performance, high quality, environmental protection and sustainability.

2. Strong demand growth

Liu Jing said that the rapid growth of TPU is mainly due to the development of the footwear industry and the increase in film demand, and the market application of TPU is also expanding from the traditional footwear industry to medicine, aviation, environmental protection and other future development prospects. industry. With the development of the market, it is an inevitable trend for the application of plastics in many industries to be replaced by TPU.

Lu Guoguo also said that TPU is still one of the fastest-growing polyurethane products in the near future. The demand for shoe materials, films, pipes and wires will be more vigorous. It will further replace traditional PVC materials in the fields of medical equipment, cables, wires and films, and it is very likely to replace EVA in the field of shoe materials. It is expected that TPU will maintain 10% in the future. Or above the growth trend.

According to reports, compared with cast polyurethane (CPU), TPU generally does not need to be vulcanized and cross-linked to make final products, which can shorten the production cycle, and waste materials can be recycled and used, which is suitable for the production of small but substantial products. In recent years, the proportion of TPU in polyurethane elastomers has increased year by year, and has now reached about 40%. It is expected that its production capacity will reach 954,000 tons in 2019, the output will reach 590,000 tons, and the consumption will reach 500,000 tons.

3. Innovative achievements emerge

With the continuous expansion of polyurethane application fields, the demand for high-performance and more sustainable TPU is increasing. At present, many polyurethane companies are increasing relevant R&D and innovation efforts.