High-Performance Films

Report Highlights

• The U.S. consumption rate for high performance films was 12.8 billion pounds in 2005 and reached almost 14 billion pounds in 2006. Growing at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 2.9%, national consumption should cross 16 billion pounds by 2011.
• Correspondingly, most high-performance resins had a very significant increase in value in the same time frame, but only a minor increase in average price, from $2.77 to $2.98. Part of the reason was the market devastation wreaked on much of the polyester-based film market due to the dramatic swing to digital formats described in this report.
• There was a tilt toward higher-value, higher cost high-performance materials, a trend that will accelerate in the next five years. This is partly by design and partly a result of market forces. Major players, such as DuPont, made corporate decisions to sacrifice markets, particularly in polyesters that had become commoditized, in favor of market development in areas with greater potention, such as solar cells and structural glass laminates.

INTRODUCTION

Extruders define films in different ways, but generally they have thicknesses ranging from 0.001 inch through 0.30 inch. As explained in this report, minimum film thicknesses are trending towards micro as exciting technologies emerge. Most high-temperature films are in the range of 0.001 inch to 0.010 inch.

A word on film thickness units: both English and metric units commonly are used. U.S. film thickness is expressed in gauge. In film technology, gauge is a measurement where one gauge unit equals 0.01 mil or about 0.25 micrometers (microns). Perhaps the easiest way to remember the relationship between these unit systems is that 100-gauge film is 1 mil or 25 microns thick.

SCOPE OF STUDY

This report contains:

• Significant trends affecting high-performance polymer films and their major end-use application markets, including polyesters, nylons, polyolefin-based, polycarbonates, fluoropolymers, cyclic olefin copolymers and polyimides
• Forecasts for specific end markets for high-performance films by material types, with sections devoted to each class of high-performance film
• Analyses and market developments from the viewpoint of major applications for high-performance films including: automotive, electrical/electronic, magnetic media, packaging, photographic/reprographic, and release films
• Environmental and regulatory considerations that affect high-performance films, and their impact on products and markets
• Profiles of the major companies in the industry and a detailed patent analysis.

METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION SOURCES

Extensive searches were made of the literature and the Internet, including many of the leading trade publications, as well as technical compendia, government publications and information from trade and other associations. Additional product and market information was obtained from principals involved in the industry. Other sources included directories, articles and Internet sites.

AUTHOR'S CREDENTIALS

Douglas A. Smock was the chief editor of Plastics World Magazine from 1986 to 1994 at Cahners Publishing Co. (now part of Reed-Elsevier). He also served as a senior editor of Modern Plastics at McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., associate publisher and editorial director of Modern Mold & Tooling at the McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., and chief editor of Purchasing Magazine at Reed Business Information from 2000 to 2004.

At RBI-US, Smock also served as cochairman of the corporate editorial board. He is the coauthor of Straight to the Bottom Line, a best-selling book in the field of supply management. His second book, which focuses on technology solutions for on-demand supply chain management, will be printed by J Ross Publishing in early 2007. He is the former editor of BCC Research's High Tech Ceramic News. Smock received a bachelor's degree in economics from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.