The hottest polyphenylene sulfide has great develo

With the development of material science and the improvement of plastic modification technology, the demand for special engineering plastics is increasing sharply. Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is a special engineering plastic with the widest application range and the largest consumption. The average consumption of PPS in the world is increasing at an average annual rate of 15% - 25%, and the consumption of PPS in China has doubled in the past three years. However, according to the relevant information of the Ministry of Commerce, the self-sufficiency rate of polyphenylene sulfide in China was only 13% in 2006, mainly relying on imports. Recently, a newspaper interviewed Zheng Kai, Secretary General of China Engineering Plastics Industry Association, on China's PPS market demand and other related issues

complete foreign product chain

: what are the main features and uses of PPS

Zheng Kai: PPS has excellent high temperature resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, good mechanical and electrical properties, and its own flame retardant. It has become the largest variety of special engineering plastics, and its output is second only to the five general engineering plastics

pps can be widely used in automotive, electronic and electrical, mechanical instruments, petrochemical machinery and equipment, national defense and military industry, aerospace, household appliances and other fields through a variety of molding methods and precision molding

: how about the development and production scale of PPS abroad

ZHENG Kai: the synthesis of PPS has been studied for many years. In 1963, the United States took the lead in proposing that the failure of most plastic products was caused by the cumulative effect of creep, fatigue, temperature, chemicals, ultraviolet light and other environmental factors. The method of preparing PPS in polar solvents with alkali metal sulfide and p-dichlorobenzene as raw materials was proposed, and laboratory results were achieved; In 1973, Phillips oil company of the United States first realized the industrial production of PPS and built an industrial plant with an annual output of 2700 tons; In 1985, after the expiration of patent protection, Japan, Germany and other countries also successively built PPS industrial production devices

at present, the world's major PPS manufacturers are distributed in the United States, Japan, Germany and China. Japan is the largest producer of PPS, and its production capacity accounts for more than 50% of the world's total production capacity. With an annual capacity of 9800 tons, Phillips oil company of the United States is the largest producer of PPS in the world; Japan's Toray Phillips company has an annual capacity of 8500 tons, ranking second in the world; The annual production capacity of Japan Wuyu chemical industry company is 8000 tons, ranking third in the world. By 2006, the total annual production capacity of PPS in the world has reached about 70000 tons, which can produce dozens of resin brands, and has formed a huge product chain with hundreds of modified materials and thousands of products, with annual sales of more than 10 billion US dollars

insufficient domestic production needs

: how about the industrialization of PPS in China

this draft is sorted out by China National Chemical Corporation

Zheng Kai: China's PPS research basically started at the same time as foreign countries. Many universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises invested a lot of human and material resources, from small-scale test to kilogram scale expansion test, to tonnage scale pilot test to 100 ton scale. Dozens of production units, large and small, have been installed successively, costing hundreds of millions, but they have been abandoned or can only be produced in small batches because of no breakthrough in key technologies. In 2001, Sichuan Huatuo Technology Co., Ltd. built China's first 1000 ton production line of linear high molecular weight PPS resin synthesized by pressurized method (on this basis, Sichuan Deyang Technology Co., Ltd. was established), with an annual polymerization capacity of 1420 tons, based on the pilot test results of high molecular weight (high molecular weight) PPS resin synthesized by pressurized method. The completion and operation of this device has made China the fourth country in the world to realize the industrialization of PPS after the United States, Japan and Germany, laying the foundation for the large-scale industrialized production of PPS in China

in recent years, Sichuan Deyang company has continuously expanded the production scale of PPS resin. In 2005 and 2006, two 6000 T/a production units were successively built, and another 22000 T/a unit is under construction. At the same time, efforts have been made to extend upstream and downstream and expand the industrial chain, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale development of China's PPS industry

according to statistics, in 2006, the total production capacity of PPS resin in China was about 14300 tons, but due to the completion time of new projects at the end of the year and other reasons, the actual output was about 2800 tons, including 2700 tons of Sichuan Deyang company

: what is the international PPS consumption structure

Zheng Kai: the world demand for PPS resin is slightly greater than the demand. In 2005, the actual total supply of PPS resin in the world was about 65000 tons. Among them, about 57800 tons are used for molding products, about 5200 tons are used for fiber and film, and about 2000 tons are used for others. The annual output of PPS resin in the United States is about 23000 tons, accounting for 35.4% of the world's total output; The annual consumption is about 20000 tons, accounting for 30.8% of the world's total consumption. The annual output of PPS resin in Japan is about 33000 tons, accounting for 50.8% of the world total; The annual consumption is about 16000 tons, accounting for 24.6% of the world total

according to relevant international reports, in 2005, international PPS was used for about 32500 tons of electronic and electrical products, accounting for 50% of the total consumption; 2243 tons were used in the automotive industry, accounting for 34.5%; 5590 tons of precision machinery, accounting for 8.6%; 448500 tons were used in other fields, accounting for 6.9%

: what is the current situation of domestic PPS consumption

Zheng Kai: because China's PPS production cannot meet the domestic market demand, it can only rely mainly on imports. PPS used to be controlled by the "Batumi organization", and China imported it to improve the accuracy of the data; The import volume, especially the import volume of high-end products, is limited to a certain extent. In recent years, the gradual elimination of export restrictions on foreign PPS has stimulated the potential consumption of PPS in China, and the consumption has increased by leaps and bounds, with an average annual growth rate of about 170% in recent years. According to statistics, the total domestic production of PPS in 2003 was about 0700 tons, the import volume (equivalent to pure resin) was about 18500 tons, and the apparent consumption was about 255 tons; In 2004, the total domestic output of PPS was about 096 tons, the import volume was about 25000 tons, and the apparent consumption was about 346 tons; In 2005, the total domestic output of PPS was about 1400 tons, the import volume was about 7600 tons, and the apparent consumption was about 9000 tons; In 2006, the apparent consumption of PPS in China reached 21800 tons. Due to rapid demand growth and insufficient domestic supply, the self-sufficiency rate of PPS in the domestic market is very low, which was only about 13% in 2006

at present, China's PPS imports are mainly from Japan and Phillips company of the United States. The import mode is mainly general trade, and the main consumers are some joint ventures. About 50% of domestic PPS is used to produce all kinds of injection molding products, such as electronic and electrical parts, auto parts, petrochemical advanced anti-corrosion materials, pharmaceutical equipment parts and sealing parts; 35% is used to produce fibers (such as industrial filter materials), as well as carbon fiber and Aramid Composite Materials; 10% is used for coating production, such as corrosion prevention of oil export pipes; 5% is used in film production, such as computer insulation, high voltage remote transmission, etc

great potential for development and application

: PPS is indeed too widely used. The Ministry of science and technology also listed it as a major industrialization research and development content in the national science and technology research plan of the "Eleventh Five Year Plan". Specifically, what are the aspects of industrialization

ZHENG Kai: PPS is an indispensable new polymer material to promote the development of China's high-tech industry and the upgrading of traditional industries. As one of the varieties of high-performance engineering plastics and low-cost special engineering plastics, it has been listed in the catalogue of China's high-tech products and the catalogue of industrial products and technologies currently encouraged by the state. As a new material strongly supported by the state, PPS has a broad market prospect, and its development is closely related to many industries

first, environmental protection industry. It is mainly used as filter material for high-temperature flue gas bag type dust removal equipment. With the increasingly strict requirements of China's environmental protection regulations and policies on the smoke and dust emission indicators of coal-fired boilers (the smoke and dust emission indicators of boilers are less than 50mg/nm3), the widely used water dedusting and electrostatic dedusting technologies can no longer meet the requirements of the standard, and the bag dedusting technology will be revitalized and will be widely promoted throughout the country. Due to the unique cost performance advantages of PPS filter media, it will play an important role in the development of high-performance filter media in the future. In 2005, PPS fiber has been included in the key support projects of China's chemical fiber industry in the "Eleventh Five Year Plan". It is expected that the demand for PPS fiber filter materials will definitely surge in the next few years. Therefore, fiber grade PPS will face great market opportunities, which will be a highlight of PPS demand growth in the next five years

second, antistatic and radiation resistant plates. PPS has high mechanical strength and flame retardancy after being reinforced by glass fiber and carbon fiber. After special processing, it can also be made into antistatic materials and high-frequency ray resistant materials. After these materials are made into plates, they can be used for floors, wallboards and device materials in nuclear facilities, high-frequency environment, computer rooms in IT industry, high-power transmission and reception and other places. At present, there is a great demand at home and abroad

third, auto parts. PPS is widely used in automobile parts abroad, but its domestic consumption is still small. The application of PPS in the automotive industry abroad accounts for more than 30% of the total consumption, while it is less than 10% in China. At present, China's automobile manufacturing industry ranks among the top three in the world. The state is encouraging and promoting the localization process of auto parts, and some auto parts enterprises are also trying products made of domestic PPS, which provides opportunities for the application of domestic PPS in the automotive field

fourth, electronic and electrical industry. Electronic and electrical is the earliest and most common industry to apply PPS. At present, 70% of the modified PPS produced in China are used in the electronic and electrical industry. In terms of the overall development trend, electronic and electrical products are becoming smaller and lighter, so some engineering plastics with good liquidity, high temperature resistance and high mechanical strength are favored by manufacturers. In particular, some high-performance special engineering plastics are more and more widely used. Peek and PES, which were rarely mentioned before, are now widely used. PPS has become the best variety in the development and application of special engineering plastics due to its large output, relatively cheap price and excellent comprehensive performance

RoHS implemented in Europe in July 2006 stipulates that the original welding process of electronic products must be changed to lead-free welding. The temperature of the tin furnace used in this process is much higher than that of the original process. Therefore, for plastic materials commonly used in many electronic components, materials with higher temperature resistance must be replaced. As the price of PPS in special engineering plastics is closest to that of general engineering plastics, and the production capacity is far greater than that of other special engineering plastics, PPS and high temperature resistant nylon will become the preferred materials in the electronic and electrical industry in the future. In addition, the application of PPS film in electronic and electrical appliances has also doubled in recent years

fifth, electronic packaging materials and mechanical sealing materials. PPS is also widely used in electronic packaging materials and mechanical sealing materials because of its unique temperature and corrosion resistance. It can resist the chemical corrosion of acids, bases, chlorinated hydrocarbons, alkanes, ketones, alcohols, and esters. It is almost insoluble in any chemical solvent below 200 ℃, and has excellent creep resistance, zero cold fluidity, and 0.08% water absorption.. Therefore, the performance of packaging materials and sealing materials made of PPS is much better than that of other materials. With the continuous improvement of various control accuracy, PPS will be more and more widely used in this field, and the dosage will continue to increase

six are special coatings. PPS coating has a long history of application. In the past, PPS with low relative molecular weight was mostly used as coating for anticorrosion of oil well facilities, pipelines, explosion-proof equipment, chemical equipment, ships, etc. In the future, with the continuous development of petrochemical industry and shipbuilding industry and the success of PPS localization, PPS coatings will also make great progress