September 16, 2015
Wellesley, Mass., September 16, 2015 – Steady demand for electronic devices is driving moderate growth in the worldwide engineering thermoplastics market. BCC Research reveals in its new report that the relentless trend toward size reduction plays a key role in overall market growth.
The global market for combined global thermoplastic and thermoset volume is forecast to reach 3.7 billion pounds and 4.4 billion pounds in 2015 and 2020, respectively, reflecting a five-year (2015-2020) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3%.
Almost every type of engineering thermoplastic (ETP) is used in one type of electronic component or another, although standard nylons (polyamides) and thermoplastic polyesters (generally polybutylene terephthalate) are the two dominant polymer families--especially among connectors, which account for the majority of total business in electronic components.
As the trend toward size reduction continues not only with personal electronic devices but also with industrial electronics, connectors need to be made smaller, which requires materials with improved flow with no loss of performance integrity. Thus, the demands on key properties of ETPs, such as flow, thermal resistance, mechanical strength and dimensional stability, continue to increase. This has enabled new polymers to enter the market (nylon 4T is a typical example), and at the same time suppliers of “traditional” polymers (LCPs and PPS notably) have gone back to the laboratory to develop new and improved versions of the existing offerings.
“Eventually, though, it will no longer be possible to make electronic components any smaller, and there are indications that point is not very far off,” says BCC Research analyst Peter Mapleston. “However, electronics companies, as well as making components smaller, are also developing new components that have the same or similar size as components from a preceding generation, but have a higher functional density. DDR4 connectors, for example, which are now replacing DDR3 types.”
Plastics in Electronics Components: Technologies and Global Markets(PLS027D) concentrates on components produced by injection molding, compression molding and encapsulation. The report reviews important new technologies and changes in legislation and industry standards, and provides analyses of global market trends, and revenue and CAGR’s s projections through 2020.
Editors and reporters who wish to speak with the analyst should contact Steven Cumming at steven.cumming@bccresearch.com.
Plastics in Electronics Components: Technologies and Global Markets( PLS027D )
Publish Date: Sep 2015
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