“With increasing populations, urbanization, and the fact that almost 75 percent of the infrastructure that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built, the construction industry is expected only to expand.”, the World Bank says. The organization also says that this sector is the largest consumer of raw materials in the world. Thus, with the increasing construction activities, the amount of various types of raw material required is only going to increase.
As the name suggests, high-temperature elastomers are polymeric materials with high elasticity that are designed to withstand strong heat, up to 200 degrees Celsius. In construction, these materials are used for highway and building expansion joints, general weatherproofing of sanitary joints in bathrooms, the joints in porous and nonporous substrates, fire-rated joints along pipes, ducts, electrical conduits, and electrical wiring within walls and ceilings.
Another major application of such materials is in the automotive industry, where they are used on hoses, belts, front-end body panels, rocker panels, bushes, seals, gaskets, and engine mounts. For the automotive sector, high-temperature elastomers offer chemical, abrasion, and heat resistance, low permeability, long life, and durability. With vehicle production rising around the world, especially in emerging economies, including India, China, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia, on account of the growing urbanization and people’s surging purchasing power, the demand for high-temperature elastomers is rising.
High-temperature elastomers can be made from perfluorocarbon, fluorocarbon, fluorosilicone, silicone, nitrile, and polyacrylate. Among these, silicone elastomers are the most popular, and they will continue being used in the highest amounts in the years to come. Silicone elastomers are widely used in the construction sector for structural glazing and as sealants, while in automobile plants, they are used as vibration dampers and in cured-in-place gaskets. With the booming population driving the demand for commercial, residential, civil, and industrial infrastructure and automobiles, the demand for silicone high-temperature elastomers is only going to increase.
Apart from automotive and transportation and construction, high-temperature elastomers find application in the healthcare, industrial machinery, semiconductor and electronics, consumer products, and chemical sectors. In the years to come, the demand for these materials is expected to increase the most rapidly in the semiconductor and electronics industry, due to the importance of these materials in this sector as they can withstand high temperatures. With the growth of the semiconductor and electronics industry in China, India, Japan, and South Korea, the demand for these materials will increase too.
Owing to factors such as these, Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the largest high-temperature elastomers market currently, and it will continue to account for the highest consumption of these materials in the near future. Specifically, the demand for this material is rising in the region on account of the expansion in the electrical and electronics, construction, and automotive and transportation industries here. With the increase in the population and its disposable income, the sales of houses, commercial properties, automobiles, smartphones, laptops, and many other products continue to rise, which is driving the consumption of high-temperature elastomers.
Hence, the demand for these materials will increase with the growth in end-use industries.
