The market demand for epoxy curing agents is vast. Environmental protection and functionalization are important directions for product upgrades.
Epoxy curing agent, the full name of epoxy resin curing agent, refers to a network-like three-dimensional polymer that can chemically react with epoxy resin and wrap the skeleton of the material in it. The main function of epoxy curing agent is to cure epoxy resin, thereby strengthening the hardness, flexibility, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance and other characteristics of epoxy resin.
my country is the world’s largest consumer of epoxy resin. Epoxy resin can be used to manufacture architectural coatings, electronic packaging materials, circuit boards, engineering plastics, adhesives, anti-corrosion coatings, etc. It is widely used in automobiles, construction, machinery, ships, aviation and other fields. , my country’s epoxy resin consumption will exceed 2.2 million tons in 2022. Driven by the rapid development of the downstream market, the demand for epoxy resin is increasing and the performance requirements are constantly upgrading. As a key additive to enhance the performance of epoxy resin, the market demand for epoxy curing agent continues to grow.
According to the “2023-2028 Epoxy Curing Agent Industry Market In-depth Research and Investment Prospect Forecast Analysis Report” released by the Industrial Research Center , my country’s epoxy curing agent market size will exceed 8 billion yuan in 2022, with a year-on-year growth of more than 5%. There are currently a variety of epoxy curing agents on the market, including alkaline epoxy curing agents, acidic epoxy curing agents, amine epoxy curing agents, acid anhydride epoxy curing agents, synthetic resin epoxy curing agents, Polyisocyanate epoxy curing agent, etc. Among them, amine epoxy curing agents are the mainstream products in the current epoxy curing agent market. According to different molecular structures, they can also be subdivided into aliphatic amines, alicyclic amines, aromatic amines, polyamides, and phenolic amines. Epoxy-like curing agents, etc.
However, the relative molecular weight of low-grade amine epoxy curing agents is small, volatile and toxic, and the cured epoxy resin has shortcomings such as low strength and weak impact resistance. It is currently difficult to meet the needs of continuous downstream upgrades. Market demand. Therefore, epoxy curing agents need to be continuously upgraded in the direction of environmental protection, multi-functionality, non-toxicity, low-temperature curing, and rapid curing.
Currently, the major companies in my country’s epoxy curing agent market include BASF of Germany, Evonik of Germany, Huntsman of the United States, Olin of the United States, Westlake Epoxy of the United States, Kunshan, the capital of South Korea, and other international companies, as well as Zhejiang Wansheng Co., Ltd., Anhui Jiajingmei New Materials, Shandong Local enterprises such as Tongchuang Chemical, Dongguan Jingchuan Building Materials, Hangzhou Hummer Coatings, Dalian Jiaxiu Bailong New Materials, Shandong Zhongke New Materials, Anhui Xibao Polymer Materials, etc. Among them, local epoxy curing agent companies account for the majority.
Industry analysts said that in recent years, with the continuous upgrading of domestic enterprise technology, more advanced epoxy Curing agent products are constantly emerging, such as non-toxic and environmentally friendly cashew phenolic amine epoxy curing agent, low-temperature rapid curing polythiol epoxy curing agent and water-based epoxy curing agent. At present, local epoxy curing agent companies are actively catching up with leading international companies, and the industry has huge potential for future development.