PMI foam has good application prospects and the competitive advantages of Chinese enterprises continue to increase

PMI foam, also known as polymethacrylimide foam, is a closed-cell, rigid foam obtained by foaming a copolymer of methacrylic acid (MAA) and methacrylonitrile (MAN). PMI foam is a new type of polymer structure foam material. Its preparation process includes low-temperature bulk polymerization and high-temperature foaming method, reaction extrusion foaming method, etc.

In addition to the advantages of traditional PUR/PVC foam such as shock absorption, sound insulation, and low density, PMI foam also has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, good wave transmittance, high specific strength, and high closed cell ratio. It is currently one of the foam materials with the best comprehensive performance. one. With its excellent performance, PMI foam has shown good application prospects in aerospace, medical, military, electronic communications, radar, automobiles, wind turbine blades, ships, sports equipment and other fields.

With the development of the market, it has become a trend for PMI foam to replace PET foam, honeycomb core materials, etc. in some fields. Due to expensive raw materials and high level of production technology, PMI foam is currently mainly used in high-end fields. The foreign PMI foam market started early and developed rapidly. In European and American countries, about 80% of PMI foam is used in the aerospace field. In comparison, my country’s PMI foam application There is still huge room for improvement.

According to the “2022-2026 PMI Bubble Industry Market In-depth Research and Investment Prospect Forecast Analysis Report released by the Industrial Research Center, in Globally, the PMI foam market is mainly distributed in Germany, the United States, Japan and other regions. Among them, the German PMI foam market started the earliest and developed in the 1970s. In the international market, PMI foam suppliers mainly include Degussa, Evonik, DuPont, Sordal, etc. my country’s PMI foam is mainly imported from Germany.

Imported PMI bubbles are expensive, which limits their development in the domestic market to a certain extent. In order to break the monopoly pattern of PMI bubbles by foreign companies and improve the localization of PMI foam, Chinese companies and institutions have begun to conduct research on PMI bubbles. Research institutions include the Ningbo Institute of Materials, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Relying on patented technologies from universities and research institutes, the localization process of PMI foam is accelerating, and some products can gradually replace imported product models.

Domestically, companies with PMI foam production capabilities include Hunan Zhaoheng Materials, Zhongke Hengtai, Baoding Meiwo, Weihai Vesai, Haobo Technology, Changzhou Tiansheng, Tianjin Moss, etc. Among them, Hunan Zhaoheng Materials is the first company in China to mass-produce PMI foam, and is currently the only qualified supplier of PMI foam recognized by the Chinese military.

Industry analysts said that as a new polymer structural foam material, PMI foam has excellent comprehensive properties and has demonstrated outstanding performance in military and civilian fields. Broad application prospects. Restricted by factors such as technology, raw materials, and prices, my country’s PMI foam application scale is still small, and high-end products still rely on imports. However, under the general trend of domestic substitution and consumption upgrading, my country’s PMI foam market space may reach billions of yuan. Companies with leading advantages will benefit first.