Due to its excellent performance, modified plastics are widely used in home appliances, automobiles, construction and other industries. Among them, home appliances and automobiles are the two largest application areas. In recent years, the rise of new energy vehicles has made the requirements for lightweighting of automobiles more prominent. The demand for plastics has grown substantially.
Affected by the demand for lightweight vehicles, the automotive industry has become the fastest growing demand for modified plastics. According to Markets and Markets, the global automotive plastics consumption is expected to increase from 7.1 million tons in 2012 to 11.3 million tons in 2018. , The compound growth rate will reach 13.4%.
As one of the main approaches for energy conservation and emission reduction of automobiles, lightweighting has always been the technological direction that the automotive industry has been advancing. At present, with the development of new energy vehicles, lightweighting is a top priority, and lightweighting has been included in the standard system for energy-saving vehicles. According to reports, the lightweighting of vehicles is mainly reflected in the optimization of automotive design, the application of alloy materials and non-metallic materials, which in turn reduce the weight of vehicles by 10% to 15%, 30% to 40%, and 45% to 55%. This shows that the application of alloy materials and non-metallic materials in the automotive field is of great significance for the light weight of automobiles.
In April 2017, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Development and Reform Commission, and three ministries and commissions of the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued the “Mid-term and long-term development plan for the automotive industry” (hereinafter referred to as the “planning”). In the “planning”, lightweighting was confirmed as an important direction for future automobile development. One of the advanced automotive materials becomes an important part of it.
In fact, the proportion of applications for plastics in the automotive industry is indeed increasing, and many material suppliers are therefore looking to the automotive industry as one of the most important application areas. Related companies also said that despite the global auto Sales have been slowing since 2012, but this does not seem to have affected the expectations of material traders for the automotive industry.