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Characteristics and development prospect of TPU

With the development of society and the progress of technology, the application of new materials is more and more extensive. Since the beginning of 1980s, TPU has changed from military use to civil use, and mainly used for civil use, the variety and brand of products are increasing, the production scale is expanding day by day, and it plays an increasingly important role in all sectors of national economy and people's clothing, food, housing and transportation.

1. TPU performance advantages

1）Large adjustable range of performance

Hardness is often an important indicator of products for users. Polyurethane elastomer can be made into soft printing Cots with shore A hardness of about 20 and hard rolling Cots with shore D hardness of less than 70, which is difficult for general elastomer materials.

2）Excellent wear resistance

Especially in the presence of water, oil and other wet media, its wear resistance is often several times to dozens of times that of ordinary rubber.

3） Various processing methods and wide applicability

Polyurethane elastomer can be made into liquid rubber, pouring molding, spraying, filling and centrifugal molding (CPU) as well as granule material, which can be molded by injection, extrusion, calendering and blow molding (CPU) as common rubber. Due to the diversity of processing, polyurethane elastomer is widely used in many fields.

4）Oil resistant, ozone resistant, aging resistant, radiation resistant, low temperature resistant, good sound permeability, strong adhesion, excellent biocompatibility and blood compatibility. These advantages are the reasons why polyurethane elastomers are widely used in military, aerospace, acoustics, biology and other fields.

2. TPU performance defects

1） Large internal heat and general high temperature resistance.

2）It is not resistant to strong polar solvent and strong acid-base medium.

3. Development prospect of TPU

The transfer of beneficiary industries has great potential for TPU development in China and Southeast Asian countries

From 2007 to 2010, due to the rapid development of footwear, machinery, pipe, automobile, construction and other industries, and more and more wear-resistant materials adopt TPU, the global team TPU demand is growing, with an annual compound growth rate of 6.6%. According to ial statistics, the global TPU consumption in 2007 was 384300 tons, and in 2010 it was 465500 tons. With the unit price of TPU particles and TPU film decreasing gradually and the restriction of PVC and other materials in EU, the cost performance of TPU materials gradually highlights. Meanwhile, the excellent performance and environmental protection characteristics of TPU are increasingly welcomed by consumers. In the future, the annual compound growth rate is expected to reach about 10%, and the global demand for TPU materials is expected to reach about 750000 tons in 2015.

TPU gradually replaces PVC in the field of medical devices

1） Migration of phthalate brings health to people

For many years, PVC has been regarded as an excellent material for manufacturing medical devices, because of its relatively low price and good anti kink properties, which is precisely because of these characteristics. PVC has become a popular material in the manufacture of medical bags and catheters with high requirements for flexibility. But over the years, researchers around the world have found that the use of PVC in medical devices may have harmful effects on patients.

2） Risks brought by waste treatment of PVC medical devices

Burning PVC will release hydrogen chloride (HCl), which is a strong corrosive compound, which can cause damage to the incinerator and seriously shorten its service life. In addition to the potential damage to the equipment, the HCl produced by PVC combustion may also produce polychlorinated dibenzo-dioxins (CDD), which contain 75 kinds of substances that can produce a variety of effects. These compounds are discharged into air, water and soil during PVC combustion, and can enter human body through these ways.

3) TPU: an excellent alternative to PVC in medical device manufacturing

Due to the risks associated with the use and handling of PVC based medical devices, and the insistence of regulatory agencies and customers, many manufacturers and medical services around the world are looking for alternative polymeric materials for PVC. In fact, some health systems have promised to completely eliminate PVC from hospitals. There are many kinds of PVC substitutes for medical devices, but we found that TPU is the best one. It has been used as the substitute of PVC for decades.

TPU gradually replaces PVC in film field

Because TPU is environment-friendly, non-toxic and easy to recover and decompose, TPU film has become the best substitute for PVC materials on shoes, and where PVC can be used, TPU can be used instead. As the pass to enter the European and American market, the inspection report of SGS, ASTM, JIS, FDA and other internationally renowned testing agencies is also very important.

1)TPU film has incomparable advantages over PVC

TPU film has high strength, high toughness, wear resistance, oil resistance, cold resistance, aging resistance, environmental protection, non-toxic, degradable and other excellent characteristics that other plastics and rubber can't match; it also has excellent properties such as water-proof and moisture permeability, wind resistance, cold resistance, antibacterial, UV resistance, which can be applied in many industrial and civil fields. It is a green film and an ideal alternative to PVC film.

2)In 2020, the global market revenue of thermoplastic polyurethane film will reach 724.6 million US dollars

According to the latest report released by Grandview research, a US market research company, the global TPU film market revenue is expected to reach 724.6 million US dollars by 2020. Automobile application dominates the TPU film market, with a demand of about 116.221 tons in 2013. In the automotive field, more and more TPU films are used for paint protection, scratch protection, debris resistance and rear bumper protection. The development of after-sale market will also promote the growth of TPU film market.

TPU gradually replaces PVC in the field of wire and cable

1.Australia's preliminary anti-dumping decision on PVC Flat cable to China

2.Important characteristics of TPU attracting wire and cable enterprises

1)Flexibility, mainly including spring wires, computer wires, wires in electric tools, mouse wires, USB wires, mobile phone data wires, etc

2) Weather resistance, high temperature resistance and low temperature resistance are the key to cable performance, especially to meet the requirements of cables working in cold climate, such as cables dragged in ice, submarine cables, which require materials to be thrown at minus 35 degrees to maintain good elasticity, flexibility and other physical properties.

3) Hydrolysis resistance, mainly polyether TPU

4)Anti microbial, mainly used in wires and cables for medical equipment, which are required to be anti-bacterial, anti mildew and free of energy release.

5) Fire and flame retardant performance, which may meet the fire protection requirements of v0-v2, UL certified, yellow card, halogen-free, less toxic substances in the smoke generated during combustion, with good fire resistance.

6)Good processing performance

7)Wear resistance. As polyester polyurethane is not resistant to hydrolysis, polyether polyurethane is commonly used in wire and cable industry.

3.The green environmental protection of wire and cable products is helpful to the wide application of TPU

The harm of electronic products to people has long been concerned by environmental protection organizations. Environmental organizations require to reduce the emissions of carcinogenic dioxins and chlorides and limit the use of some stabilizers, plasticizers and flame retardants in the application of wires and cables.

With the improvement of environmental protection requirements, it is an irreversible trend that a large number of PVC materials are gradually replaced by TPU. Therefore, driven by multiple factors such as technology development, application promotion, cost reduction, and in-depth environmental protection concept, TPU industry will maintain a rapid growth trend in the future.