WATERBORNE POLYURETHANE DISPERSIONS FOR PERFORMANCE COATING: CHINA & THAILAND

Article by MM,  Polyurethane Adhesives & Foam Magazine, Mar 2019 PUTECH ASIA 2019 - BITEC BANGKOK 

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Over the past few decades, waterborne polyurethane dispersions (PUD) have developed a solid reputation for high performance applications, particularly in the field of coatings. PUD’s have good film-forming ability at low temperatures and the films produced from PUDs show excellent properties. such as good chemical resistance, high flexibility and good adhesion to a broad class of substrates, compliance to environmental regulations.

China.

In China the total consumption of PUD for coating in 2016 has been around 90 ktons, divided in the following segments: leather coating 43%, wood coating 10%, paper coating 12%, textile coating 4%, shoes 4%, concrete 6%, decorative 9%, gloves 12%. The Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR)  are in different for each sector: leather coating 5%, wood coating 10%, paper coating 11%, textile coating 3%, shoes 5%, concrete 3%, decorative 7%, gloves 2%.

Leather coating.  Aqueous leather coating formulations account for 95% of the total volume of the leather coating application, of which aqueous acrylic resin accounts for 70%, while PUD occupies 20%, other systems 10%. Consumption of PUD for non-natural leather is still quite low due to lack of experience. However, the growth rate is expected to be quite high in the future due to customers demand for higher quality delivered by PUD compared other systems.

Wood coating is a huge market in China, but aqueous coatings account for only <10% of the total, and of that, aqueous PUD accounts for only 20%, with greater shares being held by acrylic resin (50%) and polyvinyl alcohol, epoxy resins etc. (30%). However, the market is growing at 10% per years. The government is encouraging use of water-based coatings and this will foster the use of PUD’s. Ex. the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau started a campaign aimed at “replacing solvent coating by water-based wood coating”.

Coated paper, used for high quality magazines and artwork, accounts for 10% of total paper production in China. About 50% of coating materials are solvent based and 10% are UV-curing coatings and others, leaving 40% as aqueous PUD. PUD Coated paper growth rate is expected to be around 11%. At present solvent based coating has a larger share, due to its cheap price, but as concern mounts over environmental protection, aqueous PUD is expected to get increasing recognition.

Textile Coating: the materials used include acrylic, polyacrylics, polyurethanes. The acrylics-polyurethane resins PUDA are the most used with good growth.

Shoes coating. Coating is applied mainly to achieve the effect of waterproofing and brightness. Both water-based brightener and oil-based brightener are applied. The leather shoes market has a big potential to increase as far as PUD due to factors such as foreign customers’ developed taste, higher quality leather shoes demand.

Concrete coating. When concrete structures are given a coating, a prime coat is applied followed by a final surface coating. Various materials are used for the surface coating, in order of importance Epoxy resin, Acrylic resin, Styrene-acrylic emulsion, Silicone acrylic resin, Water-based fluorocarbon resin, Photocatalyst etc, and finally aqueous PUD, which accounts for only 1% of the total. PUD coating is a newly developed product in China’s concrete market and it is still used mainly in hygiene coatings.
Decorative. The main use of PU decorative paints in China is in the automobile industry, where it is used for auto interiors. As regards wall decorative paint, the consumption of PUD coating is zero in terms of wall coatings.

Plastic gloves. Consumption of PUD in China in this sector is quite high. The medicine, health and scientific research sectors have particular requirements on the quality and quantity of gloves used in medical care and scientific research, both for safety reasons and to avoid problems of skin allergy to latex.

Thailand.

In Thailand the total consumption of PUD for coating is constantly quite small, about 2 ktons. The main applications of PUD are: leather coating 45%, wood coating 25%, paper coating 9%, textile coating 9%, others. The Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) are quite good: leather coating 10%, wood coating 15%, paper coating 10%, textile coating 5%. In spite of good local market potentials, consumption of PUD in Thailand will remain quite low for the next years due to lack of experience and lack of environmental regulations. In fact, the current situation will continue to encourage the use of solvent base and oil base products.

 

Article by MM,  Polyurethane Adhesives & Foam Magazine, Mar 2019 PUTECH ASIA 2019 - BITEC BANGKOK 

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