Overview of the current industry development
According to the latest statistics from the China Polyurethane (PU) Industry Association, as of August, the domestic production capacity of polyurethane raw material MDI (polyphenylmethane polyisocyanate) has soared to 4.78 million tons/year. The application areas of polyurethane raw materials are mainly concentrated in labor-intensive manufacturing industries such as home appliances, leather making, shoe making, and textiles. Due to exchange rate changes, rising labor costs and other reasons, demand in these industries has begun to decline. In recent years, my country's automobile industry has developed rapidly, and the demand for polyurethane raw materials has begun to gradually increase.
New trends in industry development
In the era of lightweighting, energy conservation and environmental protection have become the main issues in automobile manufacturing. Automobile designers and engineers are constantly looking for suitable new materials and using a large number of plastic parts in automobiles. PU raw materials have attracted widespread attention due to their excellent performance and good quality among plastic materials. At the same time, their usage is also increasing. In addition, with the development of modern technology, polyurethane raw materials is also increasingly used in the automotive industry.
Expansion of application directions and fields
PU raw materials are the key materials for achieving lightweight automotive materials. Among all the plastics used in modern automobiles, polyurethane is not only used in the largest amount, but also has an unparalleled range of applications: from car boxes to exterior parts, from flexible foam to rigid foam, from light to dense, all the way to high-strength glass fiber reinforced products, polyurethane applications can be seen everywhere. Including car seats, cushions, headrests, floor mats, dashboards, sun visors, door panels, ceiling linings and other interior parts, as well as automotive coatings, sunroofs, tires, sound insulation and noise reduction materials, sealing materials and other fields, polyurethane rigid foams, semi-rigid foams, flexible foams, intergral skin, polyurethane elastomers, adhesives, polyurethane coatings, synthetic leather, water-based polyurethane and other products are used.
Application Trends of Polyurethane Raw Materials in the Automotive Exhibition Industry
The demand for automotive industrial products is mainly determined by sales volume. According to sales data released by the Automobile Industry Association, my country's automobile sales in 2014 reached 23.4919 million units, a year-on-year increase of 6.86%. Although the global automobile sales have maintained a slow growth, in the next few years, the world's automobile sales will continue to grow at a rate of 2% to 3%. At present, the average plastic consumption of cars in technologically developed countries is 120kg/car, and the average plastic consumption of German cars is 300kg. The average plastic consumption of cars in my country is 80-100kg/car, and the consumption of Audi A2 is 220kg. By 2020, the average plastic consumption of cars in technologically developed countries has reached more than 500kg/car. BASF has manufactured a full PU body sports car with a maximum speed of 270km. Using RRIM technology, the PU body is a carbon fiber reinforced microporous PU elastomer composite material.
