LEATHERHEAD, England—In its new report, Smithers Rapra has identified the global market for high-performance elastomers to have been 918,300 million metric tons in 2012 and is expected to be about 1.22 million tons by the end of 2017, with a compound average growth rate of 5.9 percent, according to a company release.
If the market progresses as expected in "The Future of High-Performance Elastomers to 2022," it will grow to 1.67 million tons between 2017 and 2022, with an increased CAGR of 6.4 percent.
"The market for high-performance elastomers continues to grow at a faster pace than that for commodity elastomers," said Patrick Ellis, author of the report. "This is being driven by higher specifications, especially for higher heat and chemical resistance. Automotive under-the-hood applications are setting the scene by demanding superior and reliable long-term performance compared with products that have been previously offered."
Aerospace and rail transport is a growth area as they begin to recognize that standard elastomers can no longer supply their needs, according to the report. These two industries also are rapidly expanding, as the need for high performance at increasingly higher speeds pushes them to higher performance solutions. Electric and electronic applications are facing similar challenges, and are continuously looking for higher performance materials to fulfill their demands.
LED lighting systems are a good example of this phenomenon, where high temperature resistance combined with outstanding electrical properties, is in the forefront of electrical industry requirements, according to the report. Electrical and electronic applications occupied 15.2 percent market share in 2012, and it is likely to increase to 16.5 percent by 2017, ending up in 2022 with 17.6 percent.
"The Future of High-Performance Elastomers to 2022" is based on an in-depth combination of primary and secondary data gathered during Smithers Rapra's extensive research program for the global high-performance elastomers industry. Primary data was compiled from interviews conducted with industry experts in each key region and country. Secondary sources included data on production and consumption of various packaging suppliers, cross-verified with production data and trends in key end-use markets, and statistics from various government and industry association websites.
The report is available for about $5,800 and is available here.