LONDON, March 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Use this report to:
- Analyze industry structure and competitiveness and profiling
important players in the global high-performance films market.
- Evaluate the forecasting market of high-performance films by
region such as Asia, China, the U.S., Europe and others.
- Identify applications of high-performance film in packaging,
electrical/electronics, automotive, building/construction, medical
and photovoltaic.
Highlights
- The global high-performance films market should reach
$16.2 billion by 2021 from
$11.2 billion in 2016 at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.7%, from 2016 to 2021.
- The polyesters market should reach $10.4
billion by 2021 from $7.5
billion in 2016 at a CAGR of 6.7%, from 2016 to 2021.
- The bioplastics market should reach $1.2
billion by 2021 from $431
million in 2016 at a CAGR of 23.7%, from 2016 to 2021.
INTRODUCTION
Plastics are widely used in both developed and developing
countries. The U.S. had been the world's largest producer and user
of plastics for decades until China surpassed it in recent years. In 2016,
China's average plastics
consumption reached 59 kg per capita (130.1 pounds per person).
While China will have huge
potential for the growth in both consumption and production, the
U.S. remains competitive. Abundant and cheap natural gas from
hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") of tight gas shales will provide
the opportunity for large petrochemical and polymer companies to
re-building their U.S. plants. Natural gas, and the hydrocarbons
removed from it, provides a feedstock for plastics, fertilizers,
chemicals and pharmaceuticals, waste treatment, food processing,
fueling industrial boilers and more.
In Europe, Asia and other regions, plastics production
and consumption also continue to grow.
The main focus of this report is high-performance plastic films.
The report can be taken as the global edition of another BCC
Research report, High-Performance Films: The U.S. Market (PLS039G),
written by Dr. J. Charles Forman.
This report uses the same definitions for film and high-performance
film as in PLS039G.
DEFINITIONS
Plastic film is one of the most important applications in this
mature but still growing industry. Film is defined in the American
Heritage Dictionary as a:
- Thin skin or membrane.
- Thin, opaque, abnormal coating on the cornea of the eye.
- Thin covering or coating: a film of dust on the piano.
- Thin, flexible, transparent sheet, as of plastic, used in
wrapping or packaging.
a. Thin sheet or strip of flexible material, such as a cellulose
derivative or a thermoplastic resin, coated with a photosensitive
emulsion and used to make photographic negatives or
transparencies.
- Thin sheet or strip of developed photographic negatives or
transparencies.
a. Movie, especially one recorded on film.
- Presentation of such a work.
- Long, narrative movie.
- Movies collectively, especially when considered as an art
form.
The firms covered in this report are included in definitions 4,
5.a, and 5.b. Although this definition comes from the most recent
edition of this dictionary, the inclusion of "cellulose derivative"
is now virtually obsolete since cellulose has long been replaced by
synthetic polymers.
In the plastics industry, there is a difference between film and
sheet. The definitions between them are not absolute, however, and
engineers define films and sheets in different ways. In general,
films are the thinner form of plastic extrusions up to
approximately 0.01 inches (0.25 mm or 10 mils). Above this
thickness, a film of most materials usually becomes a sheet.
However, as film technology has improved the flexibility of films,
some markets have different definitions and now thicknesses up
to
0.40 inches (400 mils) may be defined as film by some
engineers.
As discussed in this report, while some greater thicknesses are now
considered film instead of sheet, minimum film thicknesses are also
trending thinner toward micro thicknesses as new technologies
emerge. Many high-temperature films are in the range of 0.001
inches to 0.010 inches (1 to 10 mils). At these thicknesses, a
little film resin can go a long way.
A note on thickness units: In film technology, both English and
metric units are commonly used. In addition, in the U.S., film
thickness is commonly expressed in gauge. In film technology, gauge
is a measurement of film thickness, where one gauge unit equals
0.01 mil or about 0.25 microns. Perhaps the easiest way to remember
the relationship between these units is that 100-gauge film is 1
mil or 25 microns thick. In this report, film gauge will be
discussed in the manner standard in the industry under
discussion.
High-performance thermoplastic (TP) films, the subject of this
study, are playing an increasingly important role as engineers
design products in increasingly demanding environments and demand
higher performance from the products they use. Historically, the
most important applications for these films were for photographic
and reprographic applications, both of which are disappearing from
use as digital formats take over these businesses. Fortunately, new
applications are constantly being developed to replace those lost
to technology. These films may someday make possible safer and
lighter packaging, economically viable electric vehicles, better
liquid crystal displays (LCDs), as well as economically viable
photovoltaic (PV) products for the solar power industry.
Major polymer and film producing companies are important technology
drivers and invest significant capital in R&D to improve their
technologies. Innovations were initially driven by polymer
chemistry, but increasingly, they are being driven by improved
fabrication and treatment of films. One example is the complex
development of specialty polyolefin films as membrane separators
for lithium-ion batteries.
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
- Goals and objectives of this study include:
- Identifying trends affecting high-performance films and their
major end-use application markets. High-performance films are made
of resins such as polyesters, polyolefin-based film resins,
polyamides (nylons), polycarbonates, bioplastics, fluoropolymers,
PMMA-type acrylics, polyimides, cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs),
polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), liquid crystal polymers (LCPs),
polysulfones and polyetherimides. Their applications include
packaging, electrical/electronics, automotive,
building/construction, medical and photovoltaic.
- Analyzing and forecasting markets for high-performance films by
resin types.
- Analyzing and forecasting markets by major application types,
including packaging, electrical/electronics, automotive and
photovoltaic.
- Analyzing and forecasting markets by major regions. These regions
include Asia, China, the U.S., Europe and others.
- Analyzing industry structure and competitiveness and profiling
important players in the global high-performance films market.
REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY
High-performance plastic films have become a large and important
niche market within the immense plastic films industry.
High-performance films are specialty products that sell at premium
prices because they do jobs that commodity films cannot do. Their
use is driven by the specific applications for which they are
targeted.
Although the volumes of high-performance films are small when
compared to those of commodity films, the dollar value of this
market is disproportionately high. High-performance films, since
they are specialty items, can command prices several times higher
than commodity films.
Markets for high-performance films offer opportunities to create
value and move discussions to topics beyond purchase prices.
Technology advances should help drive developments in major areas,
including packaging, the largest end-use market. New and better
barrier film structures made with high-performance films will
extend product shelf life and improve appearance.
Developments in this industry could have significant effects on our
economy and help mitigate global warming - one of the most serious
environmental concerns - by improving the performance of solar
cells and fuel cells.
Similar work is going on in the automotive arena. The ability of
engineers to meet design goals for products such as solar cells or
batteries that power cars will in part depend on developments in
high-quality performance films.
High-performance markets are becoming increasingly attractive to
major chemical companies with a global reach. Many foreign-owned
firms are active in the U.S. market, and industry leaders have
worldwide marketing and manufacturing facilities, often in joint
ventures with local companies. The rise of China as a manufacturing behemoth has led to
the formation of many joint ventures between China and other countries.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
Because of the size and diversity of the materials and products
used in high-performance plastic films, this report should be of
interest to a wide group of both organizations and individuals.
This includes personnel involved in the development, design,
manufacture, sale and use of these films, as well as government
officials and the general public.
This report should be of particular value to technical and
business personnel in the following areas:
- Specifying engineers and procurement commodity managers for
end-user companies in a wide range of industries from food
packaging to aerospace to photovoltaic.
- Marketing and management personnel for companies that produce,
market and sell high-performance plastic films.
- Companies involved in the design and construction of process
plants that manufacture both basic film resins and high-performance
plastic films.
- Companies that supply, or seek to supply, equipment and services
to high-performance plastic films companies.
- Financial institutions that supply money for such facilities and
systems, including banks, merchant bankers, venture capitalists and
others.
- Investors in both equity and fixed-income markets. The future of
the specialty films business depends on the value of publicly
traded stocks of companies such as 3M and DuPont.
- Government personnel at all levels, including federal, state and
local authorities, who are responsible for public health and
safety. The report also should be of interest to military
scientists studying new packaging and equipment.
SCOPE OF THE REPORT
High-performance films can be defined in any of several ways:
volume, price, performance, end-use markets, resin types, or a
combination of two or more of these characteristics.
For this study, high-performance films are defined as thin-gauge,
mostly extruded or solution cast polymer sheets that meet at least
one of the following criteria: pricing above commodity film levels,
continuous-use temperature above commodity plastics, and end-uses
requiring technical capability and thickness at or below 30 mils.
These are films that are used primarily for their performance
characteristics, not their price with emphasis on the markets and
products with the greatest potential for growth.
Therefore, the distinguishing characteristics of
high-performance films are as follows:
- Relatively expensive.
- Thin gauge (compared to sheet).
- Special performance characteristics.
- Significant applications other than packaging.
High-performance films are generally fabricated (or converted) in
relatively small volumes (at least compared to commodity films).
Much of their value is created after the film is extruded.
The focal point is on high-performance resins and their
chemistries, including the following:
- Polyesters, primarily PET. We use PET interchangeably with
"polyester" throughout this report.
- Polyolefin-based specialty film resins.
- Polyamides (Nylons).
- Polycarbonates (PCs).
- Bioplastics, a newer group of plastics.
- Fluoropolymers.
- Acrylic films based on PMMA chemistry.
- Polyimides (PIs).
- Cyclic olefin copolymers (COCs).
- Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN).
- Liquid crystal polymers (LCPs).
- Polysulfones.
- Polyetherimides.
Basic polyolefins, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP), are not included in our scope since they are true commodities
used in commodity films applications such as grocery and garbage
bags. Also excluded are other commodity resins like polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) and polystyrene. Specialty polyolefin-based films
are included, particularly when multilayer construction is
involved. These specialty films are ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA),
ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), ionomers, polyvinylidene chloride
(PVdC), polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and polymethyl pentene (PMP).
Fluoropolymer films are an important of this report. They
include the following:
- Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
- Polyvinyl fluoride (PVF).
- Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP).
- Polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE).
- Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF).
- Perfluoroalkoxy (PFA).
- Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE).
- Ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene (ECTFE).
The geographic scope of this report is the global market, including
the U.S., Europe, China, Asia
and others regions.
Market estimates are by resin volumes in millions of pounds rounded
to the nearest million. We round to millions since, with so many
similar products and applications, market estimates are not precise
beyond millions of pounds, if that. Many applications markets for
particular films are less than a million pounds, and we round
estimated volumes greater than a half-million up to 1 million.
Also, compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) for table entries with
small volumes may not match the 2016 and 2021 volumes because of
rounding. Estimated values used are based on manufacturers' total
revenues.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Both primary and secondary research sources were used in preparing
this study. Estimates of current market demand are made for 2015
and are projected over the next five years from 2016 through 2021.
Projections are made in terms of constant U.S. dollars (2015), unadjusted for inflation.
Growth is presented in terms of a compound average annual growth
rate (CAGR).
INFORMATION SOURCES
Information sources include managers and engineers, literature and
online materials, including leading trade journals, technical
papers, company literature, government information and pertinent
trade associations. The information in the company profiles was
primarily obtained from the companies themselves, especially the
larger publicly owned firms. Other sources included directories,
articles and websites.
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