The French Environment Code mandates the labelling of new building and furnishing products, paints and varnishes, and wall coverings and floorings with information on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for marketing to reduce pollution. Likewise, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also aims to reduce VOC emissions by 90,000 tons per year (tpy) by compelling manufacturers, distributors, and importers of consumer products to limit the VOC content of such items. Governments around the world are focusing on mitigating VOC emissions due to the cacogenic nature of this pollutant.
At present, UV curable resins are being increasingly used in 3D printing applications, due to the rapid emergence of 3D printing as a prominent manufacturing technology. For instance, the electronics sector uses UV curable inks for the 3D printing process, owing to its robustness, wear-resistance, and flexibility. Nowadays, manufacturing plants of South Korea, the U.S., Japan, and China are swiftly shifting toward 3D printing applications to mitigate environmental pollution, owing to which these countries are observing a substantial surge in the consumption of UV curable inks.
The end user segment of the UV curable resins market is classified into electronics, graphic arts, industrial coatings, and others, such as mining, defense, and aerospace. Among these, the industrial coatings category accounted for the largest market share in 2017, on account of the rising focus of lawmakers on mitigating solvent emissions from the coating process through various legislations, such as the Decopaint Directive (DPD) and the Solvent Emissions Directive (SED). Whereas, the electronics category will exhibit the fastest growth, owing to the high-volume consumption of UV curable resins in LED production.
In contemporary times, BASF SE, Koninklijke DSM N.V., Wanhua Chemical Group Co. Ltd., Toagosei Co. Ltd., The Nippon Synthetic Chemical Industry Co. Ltd., Miwon Specialty Chemical Co. Ltd., Covestro AG, DIC Corporation, Arkema Group, and Hitachi Ltd. are catering to the UV curable resins need of the aforementioned end users. UV curable resins offered by these companies are used in adhesives, coatings, filing materials, inks, staping motor protective layers, and soldering materials.
According to P&S Intelligence, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) UV curable resins market will demonstrate the fastest growth throughout the forecast period, owing to the expanding electronics industry, increasing implementation of stringent VOC emission control regulations, and surging consumer concerns regarding environmental degradation. Additionally, the rapidly growing construction sector in India, Indonesia, and China, on account of the booming population and soaring governments focus on infrastructure development, will also complement the market growth in the region.