Maturity in some market segments, but the thermoplastic elastomers industry still has a fair amount of spring in its step. Patrick Raleigh reports
Global demand for thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) will grow at an annual rate of 5.5% over the next five years to exceed 5,500 kilotonnes (kt) in 2022, according to recent research by UK-based Smithers Pira.
Over the five-year period, however, styrene-block-copolymer-based materials (TPS), which have long dominated the global TPEs market, are projected to gradually lose market share to other olefinic-based elastomer products.
“In 2022, TPS will still be the most important thermoplastic elastomer, but this may not last for very long,” said Smithers Pira – citing its higher price and, with the possible exception of cross-linkable TPS – a lack of significant technical developments in the pipeline.
The automotive industry remains the principal end-use application for TPEs. This segment grew at an above average rate of 5.9% for 2012-2017 and reached 1,800kt – or 43.4% of the total market in 2017. Smithers Pira’s prediction for 2022 is a consumption of 2,500kt, representing a market share of 44.4% and a CAGR of 6.0%.
TPE demand in medical applications is also forecast to witness above-average growth for the future, and to a lesser extent packaging. Appliances and housewares; building and construction; sports, leisure, toys and wire & cable are showing less-than-average growth but are nevertheless growing above regional GDPs, said the report.
Trends reflected
These trends are reflected in investments and developments by major players in the sector, among them Swedish company Hexpol TPE which is investing in new capacity, infrastructure and equipment to support further expansion of the business.
A major current project for the Hexpol AB group company is the addition of a new production line at its German plant in Lichtenfels. Due on-stream in early 2018, this will add 5 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) to Hexpol TPE’s current global capacity of 75ktpa.
The expansion follows another European addition in 2015, when Hexpol TPE installed a new line to its facility in Åmål, Sweden. The site was the first European TPE compounding facility to be awarded the ISO-13485 certification for the development, manufacture, marketing and sales of TPE compounds for the medical devices industry.
Another major player Sumitomo Chemical is strengthening its automotive materials business in China by building TPE manufacturing capabilities at its existing facility in Dalian, Liaoning province.
Sumitomo’s TPEs are offered under the brand name Espolex globally and the new unit will be part of subsidiary Sumika Polymer Compounds Dalian, which was set up in 2011.
A company announcement, issued in May, did not give details on the capacity of the new plant but said the primary applications for its TPEs would include automotive materials, such as airbag covers and body seals.
“People’s rising awareness of auto-safety has been accompanied by an increasing number of vehicles equipped with airbags, including those made of TPE,” noted Sumitomo Chemical.
The Japanese company already offers TPEs to the Chinese market through its subsidiary Sumika Plastics & Chemicals Trading (Shanghai).
In Asia, meanwhile, Kraton Corp. recently opened a 30ktpa facility for the production of hydrogenated styrenic block copolymers (HSBC). The plant in Mailiao, Taiwan is owned and operated by Kraton Formosa Polymers Co., a joint venture between Kraton and Formosa Petrochemical Corp.
According to Kraton, the new unit will support its ‘innovation-grade’ business, particularly lower molecular weight HSBCs. These products are added to enhance toughness and clarity in olefin-based compounds, particularly for automotive, medical and film applications, and to reduce viscosity of certain adhesives, sealants, and coatings.
The qualification process at our new HSBC plant in Taiwan continued during the second quarter and we saw the first shipment of commercial product grades from the plant.
“The Mailiao plant will enable Kraton to serve the growing Asian and export markets more effectively than ever before through higher production capacity of our differentiated grades of HSBC,” said Kevin Fogarty, Kraton’s president and CEO.
“We look forward to the incremental contribution of the plant to our cost optimisation efforts as commercial volumes expand in late 2017 and into 2018,” added Fogarty.
Chinese major Sinopec has announced that its subsidiary Baling Petrochemical has started trial runs at its SEPS (styrene/ethylene-styrene/propylene) TPE facility in late August.
Located in Yueyang, Hunan province, the 20ktpa SEPS unit represents an investment of over €38 million (300 million yuan), according to information on the Sinopec website.
Joint research on the process technology was started in 2009 by Baling Petrochemical and Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry, also a Sinopec affiliate.
The Yueyang facility claims to be China’s first of its kind and the world’s third, after one plant in the US and one in Japan. The two overseas plants have a combined annual capacity of 130kt.
Before the new facility “China’s SEPS consumption, was about 30kt per year, [and] fully dependent on imports with high prices,” said Sinopec.
SEPS made at the site will also sell to overseas markets, the company added.
The expansion, which is focused particularly on Arkema’s amino 11-based Pebax RNew TPEs, is part of a wider investment programme in bio-based polyamide materials.
Overall, Arkema said it plans to invest €300 million over five years in the bio-sourced polyamide 11 chain to increase its global production capacity by 50%.
The project will see the construction of a “world-scale” plant in an undisclosed location in Asia that will mainly produce Rilsan PA11 bio-sourced polyamide from castor oil.
The new Asian facility, which will produce both the amino 11 monomer and its polymer, is expected to come on stream in late 2021.
Arkema predicts 7% growth annually for bio-based polyamides that are used in 3D printing, automotive-parts and consumer-goods, among other applications.
“This project represents a milestone in the development of our speciality polyamides over the next few years,” said Thierry Le Hénaff, Arkema chairman and CEO.
Market trends
The market dynamics behind these projects are evident from the new materials developments at these and other companies in the sector. The goal is to meet customer demand for enhancements to properties, such as soft-touch, aesthetics, low-fogging and minimal VOCs in markets including, automotive, consumer, construction and medical.
Clearly a key driver is the automotive industry, as seen, for instance, with latest developments to Kraiburg TPE’s Thermolast K compounds. These are said to deliver “outstanding” adhesion to EPDM and high resistance to UV radiation and weather, in addition to good flow properties.
Kraiburg TPE is targeting these materials particularly at automotive exterior applications, with pilot projects for window seals comprising EPDM profiles with moulded TPE corner joints.
Haptic properties are a focus of Hexpol TPE with its development of Dryflex Touch materials, said to offer a “superior silky’ feel and soft-touch properties. The TPEs, which are also non-sticky, easy to clean and offer good scratch and abrasion resistance, are for applications such as wearable technology, consumer electronics, smartphone and tablet protective cases.
The same company says its Dryflex Green TPEs from renewable resources are opening up previously unreachable design solutions to the bio-based thermoplastic market by covering a wider range of hardnesses and incorporating high levels of renewable content – to over 90%.
The certificate comes at a time of “rapid innovation” for the TPE product range, according to Serene Cheng, TPE business director at Teknor Apex. This, he said, includes compounds for medical tubing that provide “practical alternatives to PVC” in terms of flexibility, clarity and properties such as resistance to kinking and necking, clamp resilience, and haptics.
Among recent additions to the company’s range are TPV compounds designed for sealing components used in devices for drug delivery, fluid transfer and dialysis, and in equipment such as feeding devices, and pumps.
“The dynamic sealing properties of [these] TPVs enable device manufacturers to obtain excellent long-term performance while avoiding the higher cost and greater complications associated with processing thermoset rubber,” said Ross van Royen, senior market manager for regulated products.