Self-healing Materials Market

Self-healing Materials Market Outlook (2022-2032)

[333 Pages Report] The self-healing materials market size estimated at USD 1.61 billion in 2022 is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 25.5% from 2022 to 2032.

Global demand for self-healing materials is supported by the following factors:

• Public and private infrastructure are increasing their constructional activities in developing economies. For example, government initiatives in these countries enable easy access to raw materials, as well as support the domestic manufacturing processes.
• Untapped markets can be captured to increase the customer base through the implementation of sophisticated expertise that supports the expansion of the product portfolio, which is likely to expand the self-healing materials market size.
• Long-term financial benefits can be yielded by self-healing materials compared to traditional materials. Moreover, closer collaboration and knowledge transfer at an early stage of development is further expected to surge the global market growth.
• Polymer-based self-healing materials improve the functioning of various products while contributing to the extension of their life cycle. It mimics biological healing and repairs itself when it gets damaged without the need for any external form of intervention for repair or detection, which is evidently expected to drive the demand for self-healing materials.

The self-healing mechanism of these materials is limited by design, in spite of its high global demand. Moreover, the market potential and expansion are limited due to the transition from pilot-scale to industrial-scale production. These are major hindrances to the market share.

France & China dominate the Self-healing Materials Market: Regional Insights

Europe holds the largest share of the self-healing materials market, which is attributed to the rising consumer purchasing power with the high expansion of multinational companies, especially in France and Italy. Moreover, key market players are increasing their manufacturing capacities and shifting their production units to emerging economies of Southeast Asia to capture a large customer pool. New features are being added by medium-sized players to diversify their product lines as older ones become outmoded to increase sales and profits.

The Asia Pacific is a growing self-healing materials market owing to its rising consumption in countries like China and India. The demand for self-healing materials is rising due to their durability, efficiency, performance, increasing lifespan, and safety. Furthermore, the dense population, higher rates of industrialization and growing foreign direct investments in the electronic and automotive sectors are anticipated to support the robust regional market growth.

Opportunities found in the Automotive & Electronic Industries

Self-healing materials have high applications in the automotive and electronic industries since durability and reliability are essential to these sectors. The applications include anti-scratch polyurethane coatings based on self-healing elastomers for automobile bodies.

For the automotive industry, key manufacturers in the self-healing materials market are offering an advanced “self-seal technology,” which is optimized for objects such as the nails and screws of car wheels by sealing most punctures up to ¼” (6 mm). By utilizing a natural rubber sealant material that has no impact on rolling resistance and that maintains all other tire performances, it remains an environment-friendly option. The sealant can also be permanently installed inside the tire to surround the object and fill the hole, maintaining pressure and preventing air leakage, which ultimately surges the sales of self-healing materials.

Electronic components, on the other hand, can be protected with various coatings such as silicone gels, encapsulants and conformal coatings that can fend off moisture, dirt, shock, vibration and other harsh environmental factors. These gels combine the stress relief and self-healing qualities of a liquid with the dimensional stability of an elastomer.

The encapsulants cure with minimal shrinkage and involve no solvents or cure by-products, which aids in maximizing processing efficiency and minimizing costs. Manufacturers have also introduced soft-feel to self-healing wood coatings. For instance, the introduction of the new generation of purely waterborne OH-functional polyurethane dispersions (PUD) has further improved the performance of waterborne, environmentally 2k polyurethane coatings. These are a few of the many scopes of the self-healing materials market share.

The advantages of this material, such as its weightlessness, improved chemical and physical stability, and process ability, are what are driving the growth of the global self-healing material market. These advantages make this material highly sought-after in a variety of industries.

Due to the pandemic, nearly all of the nations in the world are currently on a state of emergency and all of these industries are shut down. As a result, there has been a decline in demand for self-healing materials and electronics goods.

Additionally, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new construction projects have been halted as well as automotive production. In light of this, the adoption of self-healing materials has been significantly hindered and is predicted to take another year to recover in terms of losses incurred.

The ability of materials to repair damage brought on by mechanical friction and the rise in demand for self-healing materials i.e. polymers from a variety of end-use industries also contribute to the self-healing materials market growth as well as the self-healing materials market key trends and opportunities.

As a result, increased adoption of self-healing materials in the automotive, electronics & electrical, and building & construction industries supports the self-healing materials adoption trends globally.

Self-healing materials are now being used by the majority of semiconductor and electronics market participants in goods like laptops, smartphones, desktop computers, and high-end cameras. Self-healing materials are expected to be consumed at a higher rate as a result of the steady rise in the sales of smartphones and laptops and innovations in their design.

The primary factor preventing the self-healing materials market key trends and opportunities from growing is the high cost of products as self-healing materials are currently more expensive than conventional materials. If the cost factor is managed in the upcoming years, the factor is anticipated to challenge the future demand for self-healing materials and cater to the sales of self-healing materials along with the adoption of self-healing materials.

Nikhil Kaitwade

Principal Consultant

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What is Propelling the Self-healing Materials Market?

A significant change in government policies is one of the main benefits that self-healing materials market participants is anticipated to experience during the forecasted period.

The focus of the current shift is on laws and regulations that mandate warranties and guarantees for longer periods of time, providing the self-healing materials market with significant self-healing materials market growth along with self-healing materials market opportunities for the current forecast period.

One of the biggest obstacles to the self-healing materials market growth during the forecast period is the intense pressure to maintain profitability and competitiveness among the major self-healing materials market players. Additionally, the self-healing materials market is seeing a transition from pilot scale to industrial scale production, which is limiting the self-healing materials market’s potential and preventing it from expanding during the forecast period.

What are the Trends in the Self-healing Materials Market?

Throughout the current forecast period, the government has increased its investment and support in the form of regulations, which may benefit the self-healing materials market. Additionally, this investment in research and development is being used to create and self-healing materials market products that fall into a lower and more reasonable price range.

Reliability and durability are two key components that have a large application base in the global self-healing materials market operations, which can satisfy the target self-healing materials market and support self-healing materials market growth.

Which is the Leading Segment in the Self-healing Materials Market by Product?

The self-healing material adoption trends are led by the concrete segment in 2022, which also had the largest revenue in the self-healing materials market share of about 27%. This is due to its many useful qualities, including high strength, little shrinkage and creep, durability, and cost-effectiveness.

The increased demand for self-healing materials in the industrial sector, including automotive and aerospace, is the main driver of the self-healing materials market growth. Several industries use these coatings.

Over the forecast period, the demand for self-healing materials particularly asphalt is anticipated to experience rapid self-healing materials market growth. The development of the special material engineered technology has enormous potential if self-healing technology is incorporated into the process of building and maintaining roads.

Such technology aids in reducing the amount of natural resources needed to maintain road networks as well as the inevitable premature ageing of asphalt pavements. Additionally, it promotes CO2 emissions reduction and improves traffic safety surging the self-healing materials market trends and forecasts.

Which is the Leading Segment in the Self-healing Materials Market by Technology?

Due to its implementation in various industries, particularly the medical sector, the reversible polymers segment led the self-healing materials market and accounted for 35.0% of revenue in 2022.

Furthermore, the growing geriatric population is expected to boost self-healing materials market growth. Stimulus-responsive microstructures are used in the production of sensors, microactuators, drug delivery systems, membranes, and other advanced microdevices.

Shape memory polymers are used in the creation of Shape-memory Assisted Self-healing (SMASH) coatings. These surfaces help to repair structurally damaged surfaces and restore corrosion resistance, therefore boosting the self-healing materials market future trends.

By its ability to repair polymeric composites that have been damaged by mechanical and chemical progressions, demand for self-healing materials majorly microencapsulation technology is expected to grow in the coming years.

Which is the Leading Segment in the Self-healing Materials Market by Application?

In 2022, the building and construction segment led the self-healing materials market, accounting for 34% of total revenue. Construction activities are increasing in the Asia Pacific region, particularly in China and India, and product demand for self-healing materials for construction applications is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period.

Rising socioeconomic necessity to build high-tech infrastructure and buildings in Asia Pacific and Latin America is expected to boost the development of the construction industry majorly self-healing materials adoption trends over the forecast period, positively influencing self-healing materials market growth along with self-healing materials market key trends and opportunities. Another industry that has seen an increase in demand for self-healing materials is automotive and transportation.

Automotive OEMs apply an exterior coating to vehicles that activates a curing mechanism when cut or scratched. This coating reduces regular maintenance by mechanically healing scratches and escalates the self-healing materials market opportunities. This is expected to create lucrative self-healing materials market opportunities in the coming years by increasing demand for self-healing materials and advanced products.

Which is the Leading Region in the Self-healing Materials Market? 

Europe

Europe dominated the self-healing materials market, accounting for 28.4% of revenue in 2022. Rising consumer spending and purchasing power, combined with the rapid expansion of multinational corporations, particularly in France and Italy, are expected to drive self-healing materials market future trends.

Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific is expected to have the highest self-healing materials market revenues in the near future, with a 30.5% CAGR by the end of 2030. Higher rates of industrialization, a dense population, and rising foreign direct investments in the automotive and electronic sectors are the major driving forces behind the region's robust self-healing materials market growth as well as self-healing materials market future trends.

To capture a large customer pool, key self-healing materials market players from developed economies such as Europe and North America are increasing their manufacturing capacities and shifting production units to emerging economies such as Southeast Asia.

To increase sales of self-healing materials and profits, medium-sized players are diversifying their product lines by adding new features as older ones become obsolete. Favorable government trade policies, combined with higher GDP growth rates, are expected to support self-healing materials market growth and self-healing materials market opportunities along with self-healing materials adoption trends by 2030.

How Competition Influences the Self-healing Materials Market? 

By implementing various competitive business strategies, major corporations are focusing on optimal production and sales of self-healing materials along with self-healing materials market growth and self-healing materials market future trends. Self-healing material manufacturers are using an intensification strategy to focus on their primary line of business in order to meet their self-healing materials market growth targets by expanding their operation sizes.

Recent Development:

Acquisition:

• In December 2016, BASF SE acquired Chemetall GmbH, a manufacturer of specialty chemicals and surface treatment products.
• Evonik Industries acquired Air Products' (U.S.) Specialty & Coating Additives business in May 2016, strengthening its dominant position in the high margin specialty & coating adhesives market.

Partnership:

• Acciona developed self-healing materials in April 2015 to increase the lifespan and usability of infrastructure. Acciona Infrastructures is a partner in the Shine and Healcon European projects to create self-repairing road surfaces and concrete.

Patent:

• BASF SE patented the process of self-healing cured coatings in June 2014.

How is the Start-up Ecosystem in the Coiled Tubing Self-healing Materials Market?

As manufacturers invest in research and development to create more advanced sodium nitrite solutions, many new self-healing materials market opportunities are emerging.

Autonomic Materials investigated self-healing materials with protective coating systems in January 2020. Trials demonstrated that the low VOC waterborne self-healing coating is extremely beneficial for corrosion resistance.

The self-healing materials market participants are focusing their efforts on R&D. Furthermore, in order to strengthen their self-healing materials market position and gain a large customer base, they pursue strategic self-healing materials market growth initiatives such as expansion, product launches, joint ventures, and partnerships.

Key Players 

Among the leading companies in the self-healing materials markets are:

• The Dow Chemical Company
• Covestro AG
• High Impact Technology, LLC
• Huntsman International LLC
• Michelin Group
• MacDermid Autotype Ltd.
• Akzo Nobel N.V.
• Evonik Industries Corporation
• BASF SE
• NEI Corporation

Key Segments  

By Product:

• Concrete
• Coatings
• Polymers
• Asphalt
• Fiber-reinforced Composites
• Ceramic
• Metals

By Technology:

• Reversible Polymers
• Microencapsulation
• Shape Memory Materials
• Biological Material Systems
• Others

By Application:

• Energy Generation
• Building & Construction
• Automotive & Transportation
• Electronics & Semiconductors
• Medical (Implants & devices)
• Others

By Region:

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
  • Mexico
• Europe
  • Germany
  • France
  • U.K.
• Asia Pacific
  • China
  • India
  • Japan
• Central & South America
  • Brazil
• Middle East & Africa