Advanced functional materials Industry - Ceramics, Composites, Energy Materials, Conductive Polymers & Nanomaterials

Ceramic materials are compounds made up of a metal and a non metal. It is inorganic and non metallic in nature. They are formed by the iterative actions of heating and subsequent cooling. Clay was used for making ceramic from ancient time, but now a day many different materials are used, more recently aluminium oxide or alumina is used. Advanced ceramic also include silicon carbide and tungsten carbide.

Some of the general properties of ceramic materials are it is inert, brittle, stiff, strong and non-conductor of heat & electricity. Due to its non-conductive nature, ceramic is used as an electrical insulator e.g. porcelain.

There are five different types of advanced functional materials for low carbon applications. It consists of advanced functional ceramics, advanced functional composites, advanced energy materials, conductive polymers, and nanomaterial.

AFMs are important with respect to reduction of carbon footprint of the components in which it is incorporated. During manufacturing process it consumes less energy and has a smaller carbon footprint during its use & recycling.

Source: www.marketsandmarkets.com 

Advanced functional material has large demand from industries like automotive, aerospace, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, electrical & electronics and energy & power. AFMs found its applications in all these sectors.

Electrical and electronics

Electrical and electronics is the largest application segment for AFM having revenue up to $35,356.3 in 2012.

Advanced functional ceramic is used in many electrical devices such as capacitors. The other products which are used by this sector are conductive polymers, Nanomaterial and advanced energy materials. There is an extensive ongoing research on these materials for the electrical & electronics applications.

At present, the global market for advanced functional material is growing with a CAGR of 6.6%. It is expected to reach to $1, 13,881.9 million by 2018.

Coming to geographical market analysis, Asia-Pacific emerges as the largest market for advance functional material. China, Japan, and South Korea are the major markets for AFM in Asia-Pacific.

Advanced functional material market has end users industries like consumer durables, electronics, healthcare, and energy, automotive and aerospace.

Nanomaterials

The fastest growing category of advanced functional material market is .Nanomaterials. This market is growing with a CAGR of 19.7%. Due to its magnetic, optical, catalytic, and electronic properties, Nanomaterials are used by many industries.

There are some already established markets for Nanomaterials which includes zinc oxide, silicon oxide nanopowders and carbon nanotubes, titanium dioxide, , nanofibers, nanosilver, nanoclays, nanoporous materials and quantum dots.

Nanoparticles found its applications in filtration, electronics, cosmetics, energy, medicine, chemicals, coatings, and catalysts.

Advanced Functional Composite

The advanced functional composite is the largest category of advanced functional material by volume. The market for advanced functional composite is expected to reach 8,230.0 kilotons by 2018.

Mainly there are two types of advanced functional composites as metal matrix composites and fiber reinforced plastics.

Based on strengthening of materials, composites are divided into 3 types as

·         dispersion strengthened,

·         particle reinforced, and

·         fiber reinforced.

Asia-Pacific with a CAGR of 9.2% is the fastest growing market for advanced functional composites.

Major areas of applications for advanced functional composites include automotive, marine, energy, aerospace, pipes & tanks, electrical & electronics, and consumer durables.