Recently, the fourth-generation high-rigidity polypropylene foam E800BHM developed by Shanghai Petrochemical was put on the market, successfully replacing imported products and being used by a domestic downstream company in the manufacture of high-end automotive lightweight parts. From the small role of running a dragon, to counterattack and become the "sales champion" of domestic polypropylene foam materials, Shanghai Petrochemical has gone through 8 years of hard work.

After being unwilling, challenge the technical barriers of imported products

Polypropylene foam is a new environmentally friendly and impact-resistant material. Plastic products made of this material have light weight, good impact resistance, and are non-toxic and harmless, and have been widely used in developed countries. For a long time, the domestic market of this product has been occupied by foreign companies, and domestic companies can only follow behind.

In 2013, Shanghai Petrochemical began to develop this product. The first-generation product launched five years later, due to an unstable key indicator, can only be used for low-end products such as logistics turnover boxes and children's toys.

The unwilling Shanghai Petrochemical R&D personnel carefully analyzed the market. They found that Shanghai Petrochemical has a complete range of equipment and has certain advantages in the choice of raw materials for polypropylene foam. As long as the formula is optimized, it is entirely possible to push the product into the high-end market of auto parts.

Later, the domestic market accounted for more than 50% for the first time

After several years of hard work, in 2019, the performance of Shanghai Petrochemical's polypropylene foam has caught up with imported products, and is partially used by customers to replace imports.

Although the quality of imported products is good, the average price is quoted once every 3 months. When the product arrives in China, the actual price will be different from the quoted price, which implies a certain market risk. After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the market uncertainty of imported raw materials has increased. At this time, Shanghai Petrochemical, whose product performance was already comparable to imported products, seized the market opportunity.

In 2020, Shanghai Petrochemical sold 24,000 tons of polypropylene foam materials, with a domestic market share of more than 50%, becoming a well-deserved "sales champion".

Win-win cooperation and develop new markets with downstream customers

The sincere cooperation between Shanghai Petrochemical and downstream customers has allowed customers to see Shanghai Petrochemical's technological development capabilities, and at the same time enjoy more considerate after-sales services than imported products, and increase customers' confidence in jointly developing high-end markets with Shanghai Petrochemical.

In the second half of 2020, Shanghai Petrochemical has developed the fourth-generation high-rigidity polypropylene foam based on the third-generation. Customers who tried this batch of products reported that a certain key performance index of the fourth-generation foam material has been significantly improved compared with the previous-generation product, which can meet the needs of higher-end B-class car applications in the automotive market.

According to research and development personnel, in addition to the automotive field, this polypropylene foam is also expected to enter the construction market in the future to replace some traditional building materials such as concrete. Using its light weight, good impact resistance and other characteristics, after it is built into the building wall, it can not only improve the building's thermal insulation and moisture resistance, but also reduce the amount of concrete used in building construction. At present, concrete is still a non-recyclable material, and it needs to consume a lot of fossil energy in the production process. Reducing the amount of concrete can reduce the carbon emissions generated in the concrete production process, and it can also reduce the amount of waste concrete. Once this new type of polypropylene foam material successfully enters the construction market, Shanghai Petrochemical is expected to make new contributions in reducing carbon emissions.