LSR market remains on growth track

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—The future is bright for liquid silicone rubber.

LSR has seen consistent growth throughout the last decade, and Kent Furst, manager of polymers and materials at the Freedonia Group, told attendees at LSR 2019, held Sept. 10-12 in Schaumburg, that is expected to continue, forecasting 8 percent annual growth through 2023 as the material continues to take shares from high consistency silicone rubbers and thermoplastic elastomers.

"LSR is outpacing growth with competing elastomers almost across the board," he said. "LSR has either processing, performance or price advantages—or some combination of these—over almost all other elastomers. It processes faster and more efficiently than HCR and generally has better mechanical properties and biocompatibility than comparable TPE."

The U.S. and Europe account for more than 60 percent of all LSR demand while China and other low income countries have been slow to adopt LSR for a variety for reasons. Furst said high price and a relatively steep learning curve are the biggest barriers, but low labor costs also make the highly automated process less of a benefit.

Like the silicone market overall, LSR has been impacted by tight supply, but Furst said because it is a high margin product, LSR has been more of a priority for the major silicone producers and thus has not been as impacted as the market overall.

Still, the situation—combined with price fluctuations for key raw materials like silicon metal, oil and natural gas—has driven LSR prices up in the last two years.

"All of the supply/demand turmoil has had a major effect on silicone pricing, leading to increases in 2017 and 2018," Furst said. "Overall price jumps averaged 8-12 percent per year for silicone products, although it was much higher in China where the supply tightness was worse."

Automotive remained the biggest end use market for LSR in 2018. Furst said its fast processing ability, durability and strong resistance to chemicals and oils make it an ideal fit for the industry.

And while it is one of the oldest LSR markets, Furst said there is still plenty of room for growth as vehicle platforms continue to add electronics and sensors, two components where LSR is key. Lighting is another emerging application that brings opportunities for LSR.

Medical is right behind automotive in terms of size in the U.S. Furst said it remains the fastest growing market for LSR and should continue to see above average growth through 2023. The material's biocompatibility and cleanliness allows it to easily comply with the stringent regulations in this field. Growth opportunities include drug delivery devices, wearables and clean room manufacturing.

On the consumer side, baby care is one of the biggest areas, especially in pacifiers and bottle nipples. Furst said overmolding also brings strong growth opportunities for LSR in this field. And while it is one of the more mature markets, it is expected to grow at 7 percent annually through 2023.

"Obviously baby care applications will be willing to pay a premium for a highly pure material like LSR," Furst said. "It has all the other good characteristics of silicones like soft touch and optical clarity."

Furst said the electronics market—not including automotive applications—is projected to grow at 9 percent annually through 2023. Opportunities in personal wearable devices, waterproof sealing, micro-molded parts, outdoor lighting and smart grid updates to electrical systems are projected to be the biggest drivers.

The industrial market accounts for most of the remaining demand for LSR with applications including seals and gaskets, industrial lighting and food processing.

Two of the biggest areas for growth include lighting and clean room molding. Furst said as LEDs become standard in the lighting industry, LSR is becoming more widely used in housing applications in place of glass and plastics. Automotive headlights are another big growth area, especially in Europe, and outdoor lighting is growing in the U.S.

Furst added that LSR is an ideal compound for clean room molding because of its high purity and its amenability to highly automated production processes.

"In the U.S., clean room manufacturing is mostly used for medical and biotechnology markets, but there are applications in electronics as well," Furst said.

Overmolding also is one of the key growth drivers as Furst said low curing grades are opening up new opportunities for LSR to be molded with new materials. Micro molding is another growth area with its greatest potential in medical devices, seals, tools, micro pumps and micro valves. 3D printing/additive manufacturing applications for LSR also are on the rise.

Furst said standard LSR grades are starting to mature, meaning future growth from the material will come from specialty grades.

"Non-post cure and reduced volatile LSR is becoming more widely used in more regulatory applications," Furst said. "Low temperature curing grades are also getting more popular since they expand the range of material that LSR can be molded onto."