PET foam, as a new polyester material, has broad room for industry development

PET foam, also known as polyester resin, is a closed-cell thermoplastic structural foam whose raw material is polyethylene terephthalate. As a renewable polymer, PET foam is mainly used in the production and processing of synthetic materials and has certain mechanical strength and processability.

According to the “2022-2027 China PET Foam Market Analysis and Development Prospects Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, my country’s PET foam The industry started late and had almost no production capacity before 2019. Driven by market demand, my country’s PET foam production began to grow. In 2021, my country’s PET foam exceeded 250,000 cubic meters.

PET foam preparation methods include molded foaming, kettle pressure foaming, and extrusion foaming. The molded foaming method refers to mixing raw materials, etc. evenly, and hot-pressing and foaming through a flat vulcanizer to produce PET foam. This method is easy to operate, but it has not been widely used in my country. The autoclave foaming method refers to using an autoclave to dissolve the foaming agent and obtain PET foam through temperature-raising treatment. Its advantage is that it can accurately control the quality of PET foam, but the work efficiency is low. The extrusion foaming method is currently the most widely used PET foam preparation method in my country. The extruder is used to completely melt and mix the foaming agent and polymer particles, and PET foam is produced through processes such as shearing, extrusion, and cooling and shaping.

As a new polyester material, PET foam has the advantages of non-toxic, non-polluting, recyclable, and high temperature resistance. It is widely used in many fields, including urban rail transit, wind power generation, building materials, automobile manufacturing, etc. In recent years, the country has attached great importance to new energy power generation. As a subdivision, wind power generation has seen increasing industry prosperity. PET foam is cheap to produce and lightweight, giving it advantages in large offshore wind turbines. At present, PET foam is gradually replacing PVC foam and becoming an important raw material for wind turbine blade manufacturing.

Restricted by factors such as high technical barriers, my country’s PET foam companies lack large-scale production capabilities and lack competitive advantages and voice in the international market. Shanghai Yueke, China Resources Materials, and Anhui Dongyuan are enterprises with relatively high PET foam production capacity in my country, but there is still a certain gap compared with overseas advanced production levels. Swiss 3A Composite Materials Company, Swedish Diab Group, German Armacell AG and Swiss Gurit New Materials Company are the world’s major PET foam suppliers. Among them, Swiss 3A Composite Materials Company accounts for nearly 50.0% of my country’s PET foam market.

Industry analysts said that under the “double carbon” goal, the country attaches great importance to new environmentally friendly materials such as PET foam and has introduced many Policies are supportive, which will have a positive impact on the development of my country’s PET foam industry. PET foam has the advantages of reducing carbon emissions and improving safety, and has broad application prospects in automobile manufacturing, rail transportation and other fields. In the future, with technological advancement and demand growth, the PET foam industry will gain broad development space.