Foaming material, also known as "foaming agent", or foaming material, refers to the foaming material that can produce bubbles without gasification and make it become multi empty substances, such as foamed plastics, foamed rubber, foamed resin, foamed food, etc. Due to its wide range of applications, the market scale maintains a rapid growth rate of 20% every year. In the field of relevant new materials, the market growth of foamed materials is the industry with rapid growth in the application field of new materials, which has also attracted great attention of the industry.
When you mention foam materials, you first think of polyurethane foam materials, because polyurethane foam materials account for the largest proportion of foam materials in China in terms of application scope and scale.
Polyurethane foam materials are mainly divided into soft PU foam, rigid PU foam and spray foam. Flexible PU foam is used for various applications, such as cushioning, clothing filling and filtration, while rigid PU foam is mainly used for thermal insulation boards and laminated insulation materials in commercial and residential buildings as well as (spray) foam roofs.
Polyurethane foam (PU foam) is mainly composed of polyisocyanates and polyols. By adding suitable auxiliaries, a large amount of foam is formed in the reaction products, and polyurethane foam products are obtained. Polyurethane foam is generally used in cushioning packaging or cushion cushioning materials for high-grade precision instruments, valuable equipment, high-grade handicrafts, etc., and can also be made into exquisite, protective packaging containers. The articles can also be buffered and packaged with on-site foaming.
Polyurethane foaming materials can be divided into polyisocyanates, polyether polyols, polyester polyols, polymer polyols and polyurea polyols. The types are different and the downstream applications are also different.
Polyisocyanates: toluene diisocyanate (TDI), polymethylene polyphenyl isocyanate (PAPI), two phenyl methane diisocyanate (MDI), and liquefied MDI (L-MDI), etc., can be used to produce high resilience soft foam, whole skin foam, semi-rigid foam and high resilient foam.
Polyether polyols: polyether polyols used in the production of polyurethane soft foam are generally long chain and low functional polyether. High activity polyether is mainly used in high resilience soft foam, and can also be used for semi-rigid foam and other foam products.
Polyester polyol: low viscosity aliphatic polyester polyol, such as polydiglycol adipate glycol with hydroxyl value of about 56mg KOH / g, can be used to manufacture polyester polyurethane soft foam.
Polymer polyol: contains rigid styrene, acrylonitrile homopolymer, copolymer and graft polymer. These vinyl polymers act as organic "filler" to improve bearing performance. It can be used to produce high hardness soft block, high resilient foam, hot molding soft foam, semi-rigid foam, self formed foam, reaction injection molding (RIM) products, etc.
Polyurea polyol: it is also a special polymer modified polyol, which can be used for high rebound soft foam, semi-hard foam and soft foam. At present, there are few products on the market.
According to the industry scale, polyurethane foam materials account for the largest market scale, with a market scale of about 4.67 million tons, mainly soft foam polyurethane foam materials, accounting for about 56%. With the vigorous development of China's electronic and electrical field, especially the improvement of refrigerator and construction applications, the market scale of polyurethane foam materials continues to grow.
In addition to polyurethane invoice materials, common foaming materials include EPS foaming materials, EVA foaming materials, PE and PP foaming materials, etc.
EPS foaming material: it is a light polymer. It uses polystyrene resin to add foaming agent and softens at the same time to produce gas to form a rigid closed cell structure.
EVA foaming material: it is made of EVA and low-density polyethylene as raw materials, added Du with other additives, and then foamed by molding Dao or injection molding. With excellent chemical properties, it is widely used in the manufacture of shoe materials, luggage lining, toy materials, sporting goods materials, building materials, as well as various emerging applications, such as electronic parts and automobile interior decoration.
PE and PP foaming materials: PE or PP foaming materials generally use their excellent cushioning characteristics, heat insulation performance, toughness, excellent chemical corrosion resistance and processability, and low cost. It is widely used in machine cushioning materials, instruments, glassware, food cushioning pads and so on.
The global market scale of foamed materials is about US $93.9 billion, of which the annual growth rate is 4% - 5%. It is estimated that the global market scale of foamed materials is expected to increase to US $118.9 billion by 2026. The key to driving the rapid development of foamed materials lies in the growth of demand for foamed materials in developing countries, mainly the increase of investment in infrastructure, new housing projects and non residential building reconstruction in China, Brazil, India and other countries. In the future, China's foamed materials will continue to show a trend of rapid growth.
Application of 01 foam material in automobile industry
In the growth rate of foam Market, the development of automobile industry drives the growth of demand for foam materials, which is the main direction of growth in the emerging market of foam materials. Under the dual carbon trend, energy-saving transformation is an important direction to solve the dual carbon problem, and automotive lightweight is the mainstream development trend of the automotive industry. The lightweight solution based on material substitution has attracted much attention from the industry.
Under the new trend of automobile lightweight development, the lightweight solution based on material substitution has attracted much attention in the industry. Foamed materials have the advantages of light weight, heat insulation, sound insulation, shock absorption and low price. They are widely used in automobile interior trim parts such as instrument panel, ceiling interior trim, door interior trim panel and so on. In recent years, with the improvement of foaming technology, micro foamed materials have been popular among automobile manufacturers in the field of automobile lightweight.
Commonly used vehicle foaming materials are mainly PU foam, EPP foam, PE foam, EPDM foam, CR foam and other types. According to incomplete statistics, hundreds of kilograms of foam materials are used in a car.
In the automotive industry, foamed materials are widely used in safety seat damping materials, bumper internal anti-collision cushioning materials, sun visor, ceiling lining, side door anti-collision energy absorbing block, cushion materials, armrest toolbox, sound insulation plate and decorative strip.
(1) Investigation on the application of EPP in automobile industry
EPP (polypropylene) foam is a foamed material formed by foaming with polypropylene resin as the base. In addition to high heat resistance, high impact energy absorption, good resilience and thermoformability, it also has the advantages of recycling. Widely used in bumper, bottom guard, sun visor and other automotive interior and exterior decoration parts. EPP is a kind of high crystalline composite material with excellent performance. With its unique and superior performance, it has become the fastest growing and most environmentally friendly compression buffer and thermal insulation material. EPP can be widely used in construction, packaging, automobile, sporting goods, toys, toolbox, food packaging box, household appliances, daily necessities, etc. And EPP is listed in the "China made 2025" key technical material part, known as "green" foam material.
Among the anti-collision cushioning materials in the front and rear bumpers, EPP accounts for 98% of the automotive bumper cushioning materials, and the main substitute is Pu soft foam. However, the bumper is required to have good energy absorption and impact resistance, and the core material is required to be light. Under the same energy absorption effect, the weight of EPP is 40% - 50% lighter than PU. In addition, the lightweight of the whole vehicle has always been the development direction of the industry, Therefore, Pu has little substitution for EPP.
EPP products have high strength, good toughness, non-toxic and environmental protection, hollow foam structure and good thermal insulation effect. It is an ideal material for making takeout boxes. EPP can meet the strength and assembly requirements of products by adjusting the foaming rate. For example, a spring handle can be installed outside the EPP box to facilitate delivery and handling. In addition, EPP is widely used in automotive field, such as bumper, energy absorbing material, sun visor, steering wheel and safety seat. EPP is used in the automotive industry, which can effectively improve fuel efficiency. Because of its elasticity, heat resistance, oil resistance, non-toxic, recyclable and shockproof, EPP foam is an important material for automobile manufacturing industry.
According to the preliminary survey of pingtouge, the scale of EPP application in China's automobile industry is about 22000 tons, showing a rapid growth rate of about 15% every year. It is expected that the consumption scale of EPP in the automobile industry will reach 60000-70000 tons in the future.
(2) Investigation on the application of EPS in automobile industry
EPS is a foamed polystyrene, also known as polystyrene foam, is a light polymer, and is widely used in automobile industry in automobile industry.
According to the survey, in the field of automobile seats, 80% are EPS foam materials, while 20% are other foam materials, such as EPP, EPE, etc.
According to relevant statistics, the application scale of EPS in the automotive industry is about 25.995 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.64%. The sales volume of EPS seats in the automotive industry is 17.836 million sets.
(3) application of polyurethane foam in automobile industry
Automotive interior decoration materials usually use polyurethane foam (soft foam, hard foam), accounting for more than 80%, and there are many alternatives, such as EPP, EPS, foaming EVA, XPE, etc. PU material has obvious advantages of lightweight and cost advantages compared with other materials, and has good insulation, sound insulation, energy absorption and vibration absorption.
PU (polyurethane) foam material is divided into four categories: soft polyurethane foam, rigid polyurethane foam, semi rigid polyurethane foam and self covered polyurethane foam.
Soft polyurethane foam: soft polyurethane foam has the characteristics of good toughness, small compression deformation, fast rebound and so on. It is generally used for automobile sound insulation pad, ceiling lining, carpet backing, cushion, backrest, headrest, etc. In recent years, the double hardness or multi hardness foam formed by multi head extrusion die or MDI cold molding technology has been widely used as a cushion material for automobile.
Semi rigid polyurethane foam: it has high compression load and outstanding vibration absorption performance. It is very suitable for making protective cushion material for automobile dashboard, handrails and door posts. Among them, semi rigid polyurethane foam + epidermis dashboards replace traditional rigid PP dashboards with better safety and comfort and are more popular.
Rigid polyurethane foam: it has excellent thermal insulation properties, high strength, good flame retardancy, dimensional stability, chemical resistance and other properties. It is used as thermal insulation material for engine hood, luxury passenger car and refrigerator car compartment.
Self skinning polyurethane foam: also known as whole skin molded foam plastic. No other plastic is used as surface material, and foam and foam core are formed by foaming component in foam forming at once, which has better physical and mechanical properties. Widely used in steering wheel, armrest, headrest, door handle, etc.
Polyurethane foam has a wide range of foaming times and adjustable density. Its mechanical properties (tensile strength and 50% compressive strength) vary greatly with the increase of density. Therefore, it can be applied to different parts and functions of automobiles. Meanwhile, the 100% recyclable characteristics of polyurethane foam also satisfy the current environmental regulations that have been repeatedly strengthened. Based on these advantages, polyurethane foam materials are applied more and more widely in automobile parts.
According to the relevant statistics, the amount of polyurethane foam used in the automobile industry accounts for about 14% of its total consumption, which is one of the key objectives in the research and development of P polyurethane foam industry.
02 application of foaming materials in large household appliance industry
It is understood that foamed materials are widely used in the field of large household appliances, especially refrigerators, air conditioners and other fields. On the one hand, foamed materials are used as heat insulation materials, on the other hand, foamed materials are used as sound insulation materials.
In the field of refrigerating and heating appliances such as refrigerators, refrigerators, air conditioners, water heaters, etc., the applications of foaming materials include polyurethane foam (PU) (polyether type), polyethylene cross-linking (XPE), etc.
Pu (hard foam) and XPE are the main foaming materials used in thermal insulation and cold insulation environment, of which Pu (hard foam) accounts for 80%, and the main substitute is EPP. PU foam material has the characteristics of low thermal conductivity and good processability. It is very suitable for thermal insulation material. Therefore, it is widely used to manufacture the thermal insulation layer of refrigerator door and box.
In addition, XPE is mainly used in the field of air conditioning. It has thermal insulation, excellent molding performance and beautiful appearance. It is generally used in air conditioning insulation pipes and thermal insulation special-shaped parts.
The substitute EPP has good heat insulation and sound insulation performance, is easy to degrade, can be reused, and is more environmentally friendly than other foaming materials. However, the monomer or raw materials of EPP are not easy to obtain and the production cost is high. At this stage, EPP is not used because of cost and process considerations.
In the field of sound insulation materials for large household appliances, inorganic materials such as glass fiber, asbestos fiber and sound-absorbing cotton are mainly used. There are few foaming materials for sound insulation, mainly Pu (soft foam), accounting for about 5% of the sound insulation materials, which can be replaced by inorganic sound insulation and sound-absorbing materials.
In addition, the perforated Pu soft foam has good sound absorption and shock absorption performance. It can be used as indoor sound insulation materials with broadband sound devices, and can also be directly used to cover noise sources (such as blowers and air conditioners), but it is rarely directly used for internal sound absorption and sound insulation.
According to the survey, at present, the market consumption growth rate of foaming materials in the field of large household appliances in China remains at 6% to 8%. In 2020, the consumption of home appliances increased due to the epidemic. From September last year to the first half of 2021, the export consumption of large household appliances was digested, resulting in a sharp decline in the export market of large household appliances in 2021.
For the future, the foaming materials in the field of large household appliances will continue to upgrade and iterate. Among them, EPP has excellent material properties and will be widely used in many fields in the future. Relevant powerful enterprises can focus on it.
03 application of foaming materials in shoe material industry
It is understood that the foamed materials used in the field of shoe materials are mainly EVA and TPU. Other foamed materials are relatively cheap and account for a relatively small proportion of applications.
In the field of shoe materials, EVA can show strong elasticity and very good resilience. It has good heat insulation, shockproof and weather resistance. Therefore, it is widely used in the shoe industry. However, EVA foaming material also has certain limitations. For example, the tear resistance of the material is not very strong, and the peel resistance is weak
For the future, the combination of EVA rubber and plastic is the future development direction in the field of shoe materials. EVA rubber and plastic is blended with EVA as the base material and EPDM, Poe, OBC and other elastomers. For example, EPDM rubber type, Poe high elasticity, OBC soft crystallinity and TPE flexibility are used to achieve the purpose of blending modification, so as to improve the foaming performance of EVA.
According to the survey, EVA foam material accounts for more than 85% of the application of vinyl polymer foam material in the field of shoe materials, which is the most important application material. In addition, there are PE foamed, Poe blended foamed and EPDM / EPM foamed materials in the field of shoe materials, all of which have a small proportion of applications.
For the future, considering the material characteristics and cost advantages, the application proportion of EVA foaming and Poe blending foaming in the field of shoe materials will remain high, and the application proportion of other materials will decline.
In addition, in the field of shoe materials, the overall application of polyurethane foam materials accounts for 20%, which is far from that of vinyl polymer foam materials, which accounts for 80%.
In polyurethane foam materials, mainly