Global polythiol production is relatively concentrated, and there is huge room for domestic substitution in my country.

Polythiol is a low molecular weight polymer with thiol functional groups. It can be used to prepare adhesives, sealants, chain transfer agents, curing agents, etc., and is used in coatings, construction, photosensitive materials, printed circuit boards, cosmetics, and automobile manufacturing. , electronic and electrical fields. Polythiol curing agent is a functional curing agent. Compared with amine and acid anhydride curing agents, polythiol curing agent has the advantage of low temperature and rapid curing, and is suitable for various rapid fixing occasions.

High-refractive resin lenses have the advantages of high refractive index, impact resistance, light weight, and high light transmittance, and are the preferred material for high-end spectacle lenses. According to data from the National Health Commission, in 2022, the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents nationwide was 53.6%. Polythiol is a key monomer for the production of high-folding resin lenses. The continuous expansion of myopia in my country will indirectly drive the release of demand for polythiol applications.

According to different molecular structures, polythiols can be divided into dimercaptopolymercaptans, trimercaptopolymercaptans, tetramercaptopolymercaptans and others. Among them, trimercapto polythiol is the main production type, accounting for more than 72.0% of sales. The varieties include TEMPIC, polyether polythiol, PETP, TMPMP, etc.

According to the “2023-2028 China Polythiol Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center, In 2022, the global polythiol market will exceed US$300 million. With the release of downstream market demand, the polythiol market will further expand. It is expected that the global market size will reach US$450 million in 2028.

Globally, the polythiol market is mainly distributed in Japan, the United States, Europe and other regions. The leading suppliers include Huntsman of the United States, Toray, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsui Chemicals of Japan, etc. The above suppliers account for nearly 80% of the global share. The technical barriers to polythiol production are high. At the same time, affected by price, the domestic market demand for polythiol is limited. Relevant suppliers include Shandong Yifeng New Materials, Guangzhou Greening New Materials, etc.

As the largest polythiol curing agent supplier in my country, Shandong Yifeng New Materials has mastered the core technology of polythiol optical materials. It has developed polythiol 504, 405 and other products. The company’s polythiol materials have been selected into the “Shandong Provincial Key New Materials’ Batch Application Demonstration Guidance Catalog. But overall, the current technical level of my country’s polythiol enterprises is still low, and they still have no advantages in technology, production scale and brand effect. There is still a broad space for domestic substitution of polythiols.

Industry analysts said that polythiol has a wide range of application scenarios, but the production technical barriers are high, and US, Japanese and Korean companies occupy major global markets. share. At present, there are still certain technical and product gaps for polythiols in the domestic market. In order to ensure my country’s independent supply capacity of polythiols, domestic enterprises still need to increase investment in technology research and development, improve the production capacity of optical grade polythiols, and promote the localization of polythiols. Production.