UV adhesive: emerging products, large development space

UV light curing adhesive includes UV curing structural adhesive, UV sealant, UV glass adhesive, UV pressure sensitive adhesive, UV anti adhesive and UV conductive adhesive. UV adhesive has the characteristics of environmental safety, economy and compatibility. However, compared with the same type of ink and coating, the actual production of UV adhesive is low, and the photocurable adhesive only occupies a small share in the photocurable formula products, and the practical application time is late. The development of UV adhesives in China started late. China only began to have light curing adhesive industrial production in 2000, to meet the domestic users of general low-end (such as shadowless adhesive, optical disc adhesive, etc.) application needs, but electronic products required high-grade light curing adhesive still need to be imported from abroad.

In 2016, China's total output of UV adhesives was 1795 tons, with a total output value of 218 million yuan. China's light curing adhesive is mainly used in glass and crafts bonding field, so the main varieties of light curing adhesive are glass adhesive (832 tons, accounting for 46.35%), arts and crafts adhesive (325 tons, accounting for 18.11%) and optical disc DVD adhesive (226 tons, accounting for 12.59%).

In 2018, the output of China's adhesive industry reached 8.383 million tons, with a year-on-year growth of 5.28%. With the continuous enhancement of people's health and environmental awareness, environmental protection laws and regulations are becoming increasingly strict, the high solid content of adhesives, solvent-free, water-based, light curing and other environmentally friendly characteristics will be more and more attention, UV adhesives will become a new favorite in the market, environmental protection adhesives are gradually becoming the mainstream. At present, laminating and packaging sensitive sectors occupy the global UV adhesive market, and the assembly application segment is expected to see strong growth in the future. UV adhesive market has great potential.