Polycarbonate (PC) is an engineering plastic that is a colorless, odorless, transparent, amorphous thermoplastic polymer. Polycarbonate can be divided into aliphatic, alicyclic, aromatic, etc. However, due to factors such as processing performance and production cost, only bisphenol A aromatic polycarbonate can be produced on a large scale.
Bisphenol A polycarbonate has good transparency, strong impact strength, excellent thermal stability, creep resistance, and cold resistance. As well as good electrical insulation and flame retardancy, it has a wide range of uses in various fields of the national economy such as construction, electronics, automobiles, and medical care.
The production process of polycarbonate is relatively complex. Only a few large companies in the world have production capabilities. Domestic manufacturers are all foreign-funded or joint ventures. With North America and With the increasing demand in the construction and automotive industries in Western Europe, Asia, especially China, is increasing investment in PC production. So far, the global production capacity has been built at 5.605 million tons.
World PC Market
World PC production and consumption demand are growing steadily, and the growth rate of production capacity is higher than the growth rate of consumption. In 2019, world PC production capacity increased by 8.4% year-on-year, output and demand increased by 3.9% respectively, and the average device operating rate was 77.7%, a decrease of 3.4 percentage points from the previous year.
The growth in demand in Asia has led to a rapid increase in the world’s PC production capacity, and the world’s PC production center has moved to Asia, especially to countries in Northeast Asia such as China. In 2019, the production capacity of Northeast Asia, North America and Western Europe accounted for 85.5% of the world’s total production capacity, output accounted for 85.3%, and consumption accounted for 80.2%. As China’s production capacity continues to increase, Northeast Asia’s PC production capacity has increased from 38.2% of the world’s total production capacity in 2014 to 49.7% in 2019.
The total international trade volume of PC in 2018 reached US$11.76 billion, and the total trade volume was 3.940 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 19.6% and 12.2% respectively. In terms of price, the world’s average PC export price in 2018 was US$2,986.0/ton, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. China, Mexico and Hong Kong are the world’s major PC importing countries, with their combined imports accounting for approximately 44.4% of the world’s total imports. South Korea, Thailand and the United States are the main exporting countries, with their combined exports accounting for approximately 36.6% of the world’s total exports. PC can also be used in films, optical lenses and packaging fields. The thinnest film is 0.03mm thick, odorless, non-toxic, highly transparent, colorless or slightly yellow , has many functions, including flame retardant grade, printing grade, anti-scratch, and anti-static. It can be used for power system insulation, special printing, and window lenses for mobile phones and other electronic products. Optical grade PC can be used to make advanced cameras, cameras, and microscopes , optical lenses for telescopes and spectacle lenses, with excellent impact resistance. In terms of packaging, they are mainly used for large-capacity reusable water bottles and food utensils.
PC | Latest Research Progress
Zhang Yong and others from Shanghai Kingfa Technology Development Co., Ltd. used polyphosphate homopolymer HM1100 developed by the American FRX Polymers company as a PC flame retardant to achieve a flame retardant level of 1.0 mm V-0 grade, compared with bisphenol A bis-diphenyl phosphate (BDP zirconium carbonate), the heat distortion temperature under large load (1.82MPa) will be significantly increased, up to 123°C, and exhibits relatively BDP Higher hydrolysis resistance.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) is the world’s top petrochemical company with strong R&D capabilities in thermoplastics. The company has developed a new type of polycarbonate The resin has special groups in the main chain and can be directly compounded with carbon fibers. There is no need to use conventional silane coupling agents to modify the carbon fibers and then combine them with them, which is innovative.
Zhou Bing of Zhengzhou University uses polycarbonate (PC) as the matrix and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as conductive particles. Through a self-designed roll-to-roll (R2R) spraying device, SWNTs/MWNTs/PC transparent conductive films were continuously prepared. The results show that it has good flexibility and can cyclically adjust the light transmittance and color by turning on and off power. It is very suitable for flexible smart windows. The development has important reference value.
Humanity is in the era of new materials. The development and utilization of materials are issues that every materials scientist is paying attention to and thinking about. PC plastic is particularly eye-catching with its excellent mechanical, optical and thermal properties, especially in high-end applications such as electronic products, automotive parts, medical equipment and modern architecture. The processes and technologies are becoming increasingly mature, providing a solid foundation for its future development. Strong support. Driven by economic globalization, people’s continuous improvement in material needs will inevitably promote the continued development of PCs, a product that is both intrinsically and extrinsically competitive. In the next five years, polycarbonate will achieve zero imports and the domestic self-sufficiency rate will reach 100%. As the state encourages the development of mid-to-high-end polycarbonate neodymium dihydrate products in a targeted manner, the overcapacity of polycarbonate will be delayed, and the country will have its own market for mid-to-high-end products to achieve reasonable structural adjustment of high-end products. Mid- to high-end polycarbonate itself has a large profit margin, and as demand for it increases, corresponding companies will make huge profits.
Reference source: China An abbreviated version of the polycarbonate chapter of the “China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Bulk Products Report” (2020 Edition) launched by the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Big Data Center, Hengzhou Bozhi’s “2020-2026 China Medical Polycarbonate Market Status and Future Development Trends” 》, New Materials Research Club
(128, 128, 128);”>Reference sources: The abbreviated version of the polycarbonate chapter of the “China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Bulk Products Report” (2020 Edition) launched by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Big Data Center, Hengzhou Bozhi ” 2020-2026 China Medical Polycarbonate Market Current Status and Future Development Trends”, New Materials Research Society
