China’s polyethylene foam materials market status and trend analysis in 2022

Polyethylene (PE for short) is a thermoplastic resin made by polymerizing ethylene. It has excellent physical, chemical and mechanical properties, good toughness, flexibility and buffering properties, and has electrical insulation, heat insulation and other properties. It is widely used in Packaging, chemical industry, agriculture, fishery, vehicle and ship manufacturing and construction and other fields.

Polyethylene foaming materials can be divided into ordinary type, antistatic type and flame retardant type according to their functional characteristics; according to the foaming ratio, they can be divided into high foaming, low foaming and microporous foaming materials; according to the shape, they can be divided into beads, Sheet and special-shaped foam materials, etc.; according to the cell shape, they can be divided into closed-cell and open-cell foam materials.

The “2022-2026 Polyethylene Foaming Materials Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report compiled by the Industrial Research Center shows that, Polyethylene foaming material is one of the earliest industrially applied foaming materials, and its product application fields are relatively wide. The production methods mainly include extrusion foaming method, kettle impregnation method, molded foaming method and injection foaming method. The extrusion foaming method is mainly divided into non-cross-linked and cross-linked extrusion foaming methods. It mainly uses physical or chemical foaming agents to achieve continuous production of PE foam sheets, plates, pipes and rods. Cross-linked extruded foam products are widely used, but due to the presence of cross-linked structures, they cannot be recycled and can easily lead to environmental pollution. The kettle-type impregnation foaming method (also known as the intermittent foaming method) refers to the introduction of a physical foaming agent near the molten state of PE micro-particles. When the foaming agent inside the PE resin reaches saturation, the pressure is quickly released and the instantaneous foaming method is used. Huge pressure and temperature changes result in EPE. The molded foaming method is mainly used to produce PE foam sheets and foam profiles with regular shapes. The injection foaming method uses rapid changes in temperature to form a gas/PE homogeneous system.

Polyethylene can be mainly divided into low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), medium-density polyethylene (MDPE), linear low-density polyethylene and metallocene linear low-density polyethylene. Among them, low-density polyethylene processing It has good performance, a wide range of solution flow rate, good softness, extensibility and high transparency. It is a commonly used resin for manufacturing polyethylene foam materials.

​ ​ ​ Traditional polyethylene foaming products have mature technology and a wide range of applications. At present, domestic polyethylene foam material manufacturers mainly include Hubei Xiangyuan New Material Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Runyang New Material Technology Co., Ltd., etc. Hubei Xiangyuan New Material Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2003. It is an enterprise focusing on the field of polyolefin foam materials. Its main products include IXPE, IXPP, XPE, PU FOAM, silicone foam materials, etc., with an annual output of polyolefin foam. About 10,000 tons. Zhejiang Runyang New Material Technology Co., Ltd. is an innovative environmentally friendly foaming material enterprise integrating research, production and sales. It mainly operates series of prototype environmentally friendly foaming materials such as GFOAM, IXPE and IXEVA. The products can be applied to the electronics industry, health care, mother Baby products, green buildings, automotive interiors, environmentally friendly packaging, sports and leisure and comfortable home and other industries.