Microcellular plastics, also known as microcellular foam, is a form of manufactured plastic, specifically fabricated to encompass billions of tiny bubbles, with size less than 50 microns (conventionally from 0.1 to 100 micrometers).
The global microcellular plastics market is growing at a significant rate due to increasing consumption of microcellular plastics in various industrial sectors such as automotive, healthcare, transportation, food packaging and construction. Microcellular plastics is preferred in various applications owing to its durable and light weight properties. Increasing demand for light weight and energy efficient vehicles has made microcellular plastics a cost effective and durable substitute for conventional plastics and rubbers. Although, high raw material cost and limited number of manufacturing lines would hinder the growth of global microcellular plastics market.
Geographically, North America is the largest market for microcellular plastics and held significant share in the global market. The factors driving the growth of the microcellular plastic market in North America are the developing research and activities linked to the microcellular plastic production by key market players and increasing demand of high-performance plastics in industries, such as food packaging, healthcare and transportation. Europe was the second largest market for microcellular plastics in 2015. The existence of various major automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Europe is expected to drive the demand for microcellular plastics in the region during the forecast period. Among the countries in the North American region, the U.S. contributed the largest revenue to the global microcellular plastics market. The U.S. market is primarily driven by research and development in the field of product development based on microcellular plastics by major industry players.
Some of the major competitors in the global microcellular plastics market include Horizon Plastics International Inc., Sealed Air, Lavergne Performance Compounds, Ingenia Polymers Corp., ABC Group, Gracious Living Innovations, Armacell Canada Inc., Canadian General Towers and Total Plastics Solutions.
