 "Dr Mosongo Moukwa")
On February 28, 1935, Wallace Carothers, a scientist at the DuPont Experimental Station, developed and produced the first synthetic man made fiber. This was the birth of Nylon, starting a technology revolution and creating the ‘plastic age’. Although Nylon stockings were introduced at the 1939 New York fair, a whole year of testing took place before they were sold in stores. Science has continued to develop plastics that changed our lives, from Nylon, through polypropylene, to Kevlar.
What does the future hold for plastics?
Bioplastics
Bioplastics, which can be biodegradable or non-biodegradable, have an eco-friendly attribute that drives their growth in direct competition with fossil fuel-based competitors. Their increasing demand partly stems from the renewability and recycling option they present.
According to Research and Markets, the market for biodegradable plastics is estimated to witness a CAGR of 13.01 percent between 2014 and 2019, and is expected to generate a global market value of $ 3.5 billion by 2019. The North American region is the biggest market of biodegradable plastics, accounting for more than one-third of the total global demand.
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There is a lot of scope in the Asia-Pacific market as well due to increasing manufacturing base, which is the important end consumer of polylactic acid (PLA) and starch based plastics. The demand for biodegradable polymer may further augment at a higher pace with the emerging technological developments and innovations in the region.
Self-healing polymers
Self-healing materials are smart materials that have the ability to repair on their own damages caused by mechanical friction and with efflux of time. Post damage, the molecules of these materials re-adjust to replicate the original material. Initiation of cracks and other types of damages at the microscopic level change the electrical, thermal and acoustical properties of a material leading to its complete failure. Self-healing materials correct these damages with or without human intervention. They would include biomaterials, reversible polymers, and relevant shape memory polymers.
Their applications are vast, finding usage in products related to the electronic sector, construction works, automotive industry, energy generation sector, healthcare, military and aerospace. Global self-healing materials market is anticipated to grow on account of its increasing demand in construction, electronics and automobile industries. The market for self-healing materials is expected to reach $ 2.7 billion by 2020, according to New n-tech Research Study.
Electronics plastics
The development of flexible electronics systems is driven by displays, particularly since the invention of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). OLEDs are commonly used in mobile phone displays and television sets. Up to recently, they have only been found on glass surfaces and implemented using traditional microelectronics manufacturing methods. Flexible displays are new and exciting. They are now built on plastic films substrates, which makes the flexibility issue a little less crying as they are very thin, rivaling even the non bendable displays currently on the market.
Technical challenges in the plastic substrates for active matrix display application are extremely demanding. The plastic substrates, not only need to be flexible, but should offer glass like properties such as clarity, smoothness, and dimensional stability and low coefficient of thermal expansion. For some of the polymers, when impurities are introduced (doped), they become conductive, expanding further opportunities for flexible circuits, biosensors.
The global flexible electronics market revenue is estimated to grow from $ 3.4 billion in 2013 to $ 13.23 billion in 2020 at a CAGR of 21.73 percent, according to Markets and Markets. The consumer electronics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 44.30 percent. This growth is heralded by consumer electronics components namely: flexible displays and flexible sensors and battery.
Plastics composites and nanocomposites
Plastics composites are plastics reinforced by different fibers, making them more elastic and lighter. Nanocomposites include reinforcement with tiny particles such as carbon nanotubes. Market players are working with researchers, institutes and universities to develop new and innovative materials in both existing and emerging markets that can meet the growing demand from application industries.
Carbon fiber (CF) and carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) are key elements in advanced composites materials. The global carbon fiber market was worth $ 2.08 billion in 2014, registering a CAGR of 9.1 percent between 2015 and 2020. Additionally, the global CFRP market was valued at $ 20.29 billion in 2014, and is projected to register a CAGR of 9.9 percent between 2015 and 2020, according to Grand View Research Inc. Aerospace & defence is the leading application segment and accounts for 30 percent of total market volume in 2015. Automotive is expected to witness the highest growth of 14.8 percent from 2015 to 2022.
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Dr Mosongo Moukwa is director of technology at PolyOne, USA, and was recently an independent consultant based in Chapel Hill, USA, and vice president - technology at Asian Paints Ltd, Mumbai, India. He is a member of the American Chemical Society and Product Development Management Association.
Email: mosongo@mosongomoukwa.com
