Adhesive products refer to materials that can bond adherends together through adhesion. Most synthetic adhesive materials have a history of only a hundred years, but the adhesive product market has developed rapidly with the surge in modern industrial applications. From a global market perspective, the US adhesive market is already quite mature, Europe is developing slowly, and the Asia-Pacific region has greater growth opportunities.
1. China's adhesive product market situation
China's adhesive industry has developed rapidly, especially after 1980, with the entry of a large number of foreign-funded and joint venture enterprises, and the subsequent large number of advanced technologies and production equipment, which have continuously spawned competitive adhesive products.
At present, the domestic adhesive market can be divided into three levels according to the quality of products. The high-end is dominated by internationally renowned brands, most of which have factories in China, such as 3M of the United States, Henkel of Germany, Roman of Germany, Soken Chemical of Japan, Nitto Denko, BASF, Dow Corning, Taiwan Siwei, Asia Chemical, etc. There are also some well-known brands that do not have factories in China, including: France's Elwasser, the United States's Meijiao, Japan's Sekisui, etc.; the mid-end is occupied by some domestic leading enterprises and foreign enterprises with average reputation, among which domestic enterprises include: Beijing Organic Chemical, Dongfang Chemical, Guangzhou Baiyun Adhesive, Brothers Group, Shunde China Resources, Xi'an Hangang, Chengdu Zhengguang Technology and Heilongjiang Petrochemical Research Institute, etc. Foreign enterprises are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan in China; the low-end is some domestic small and medium-sized enterprises, including township enterprises in Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland, mainly concentrated in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan area.
2. Adhesive product application industry
Adhesive products can be divided into: construction adhesives, packaging adhesives and other adhesive products according to the application industry.
(1) Adhesive products for construction
This industry uses a large amount of adhesive, accounting for about 52% of the total output of adhesive products, and is mainly divided into three categories: decoration, sealing and structure. Among these three categories, the decoration industry uses the most adhesive, accounting for more than 90% of the construction adhesive. The main types of adhesive used are organic silicone and polyurethane adhesive, each accounting for one-third. The domestic supply is limited and has to rely on imports; structural adhesives have grown rapidly in recent years, and some products have been exported.
(2) Adhesive products for packaging and adhesives for other industries
At present, paper packaging has become the second largest consumer area in my country's adhesive market, accounting for about 13% of the total demand for adhesive products. The shoemaking industry ranks third, accounting for 9% of the total demand. The rest are widely used in various industries such as industry, aerospace, automobile, shipbuilding, machinery, electronic appliances, fabrics, chemicals, light industry, medical care, agriculture, culture, education, sports, and household use. Taking the automobile industry as an example, in recent years, with the rapid development of my country's automobile industry, the amount of automobile glue has been increasing year by year. The most used are polyvinyl chloride plastisol, asphalt primer and chloroprene rubber. In recent years, PU glue and hot melt glue have also been widely used in the automobile industry.
3. Tape products
Tapes can be divided into three categories: protective film series, packaging tapes and industrial tapes
(1)Protective film
Protective film is also called surface protection tape. The most common one is composed of PE and acrylic solvent-based glue. It has different viscosities and thicknesses for different needs. It is mainly used in nameplates, liquid crystal displays (LCD), flat-panel displays (CRT), plasma displays (PDP), plastics, electronics, PCB, glass, furniture and other industries to cover their surfaces to prevent the surface from being contaminated or scratched. In recent years, PET protective film has become the new favorite in this market. The higher price has not hindered the continuous expansion of its demand. The selection of high-quality PET substrates and PET protective films with functional elements injected are the future development direction.
(2) Packaging tape
Packaging tape includes cloth-based tape, OPP tape, aluminum foil, masking tape, yellow tape, etc., which are mainly used for moisture-proof and waterproof product packaging and heavy object packaging. In the screen printing industry, it can be used to protect the adhesive around the edge of the screen frame from being corroded during screen washing and printing. In addition, stretch film and shrink film are also widely used in the packaging industry. Stretch film is light, transparent, strong, and has good self-adhesiveness. It can be used for centralized packaging of products or pallet packaging of goods, which plays a role in moisture-proof, dust-proof, reducing labor and improving efficiency, achieving the dual purpose of protecting products and reducing costs. Shrink film is generally based on heat shrinkage, which is suitable for packaging products such as stationery, printed materials, audio-visual products, toys, cosmetics, electronic products, household products and instant noodles.
(3)Industrial tape
Industrial tape is mainly double-sided tape, single-sided tape, and PCB special tape.
①Double-sided tape
The so-called double-sided tape is actually a tape with glue on both sides of the material (can be substrate-free). It is mainly used for fixing components of membrane switches, PC keyboards, nameplates, automobiles, home appliances, mobile phones, and PCBs. The market is dominated by 3M of the United States and Nitto of Japan. The product system of the two is complete and the quality is stable, but the price is relatively high. In recent years, some products with moderate prices and relatively stable quality have entered the market, such as Sekisui of Japan, Soken Chemical, Sony, Tesa, Baoyou of South Korea, NIKTO, and Siwei of Taiwan. They have gradually occupied the mid-range market with their price advantage and challenged 3M and Nitto on some products. The low-end market is occupied by domestic manufacturers, the price of tape is low, and the product model is single.
②Single-sided tape
Corresponding to the double-sided tape is the single-sided tape, which is coated with glue on one side of the material for fixing, sealing, shielding, marking and packaging of products and components. Such as glass cloth tape, fiber tape, masking tape, label and ground marking tape, etc.
③ PCB special tape
⑴ Dust-sticking paper: PCB board pretreatment, special for cleaning panel dust removal.
⑵ Gold finger tape: protect the PCB gold finger part from corrosion when soaked in liquid medicine.
⑶ Kapton tape: protect the PCB gold finger part from pollution during wave soldering
4. Development trend of adhesive industry
(1) Products meet environmental protection requirements
With the strengthening of public environmental awareness and the increasingly sound environmental protection laws and regulations in China, safe and practical adhesive products that meet international environmental standards are becoming the mainstream. Many manufacturers including 3M and Nitto are actively practicing their environmental protection declarations.
(2) Improved technical content
Technological innovation and performance improvement are the development direction of the adhesive industry. Manufacturers will also adjust to the direction of high technological content, focusing on improving the performance of various adhesive systems such as acrylic solvent-based adhesives, polyurethane adhesives, epoxy adhesives, optical and photosensitive adhesives, pressure-sensitive adhesives and organic silicone.
(3) Accelerated product renewal
The international adhesive market is developing steadily, the speed of technological innovation is getting faster and faster, and the continuous emergence of new technologies and products has promoted the continuous renewal of the adhesive industry, and the application field will continue to expand.
(4) Intensified competition
In general, the market in developed regions of Europe and the United States is relatively mature, while the rapidly developing Asia-Pacific region, especially China, the "world factory", has maintained an economic growth rate of more than 8% for many years. The adhesive market is constantly expanding and the competition is becoming more and more intense. The rise in oil prices and the fluctuation of exchange rates have intensified the competition for raw materials among manufacturers. Many large European and American adhesive companies have been looking for agents, setting up offices or directly building factories in Asia-Pacific. It is foreseeable that the prices of conventional adhesive products will continue to fall in the future, and the growth point of profits will be concentrated on new products with high technological content.
