Rising Demand for Miniaturized Electronics
The bonding films market is being driven by the rapid growth of smaller and better-performing electronics. Electronic devices today, such as smartphones, wearables, tablets and state-of-the-art computing systems, are moving away from traditional adhesive bonding methods to rely on engineered bonding films. Bonding films allow manufacturers to achieve exacting and consistent performances, including surface quality, adhesion and spread of adhesive, when making complex and smaller components. One of the key advantages of bonding films in electronics is that the film is uniform in thickness, has controlled adhesive characteristics and provides exacting guidance for the application of the adhesive to the component surfaces. These attributes allow bond films to be used in electronic assemblies where traditional adhesives would have less success in performance. Another unique feature of bonding films, especially in electronic applications, is that they can create a bond with both no excess adhesive and no additional spreading of the adhesive to create a high-quality bond that maintains integrity while preventing short-circuiting. Also, due to the use of engineered materials, bonding films can provide thermal conductivity or insulation, depending on the application, as well as control the temperature in densely populated electronic devices, where there is significant heat generation due to high-performance components. As electronic devices are being developed with more powerful processing capabilities, they will generate increased levels of heat, which will have an impact on the operation of circuits inside the devices.
In addition, the continued introduction of advanced technologies such as 5G, IoT, and advanced semiconductor devices will continue to generate demand for high-quality bonding solutions that provide highly-integrated and efficient devices. As the demand for these types of devices increases, it becomes more important to utilize bonding materials that can meet the additional stress and provide the durability needed for reliable performance. Bonding films provide strong adhesion and resistance to environmental stress while also being compatible with automated manufacturing processes.
Increasing Adoption in Lightweight Transportation
The Transportation sector is experiencing changes with an emphasis on light weighting vehicles, energy usage and reduction of emissions. Bonding films represent a new solution as a strong and light weight bonding option to traditional mechanical fastening methods (i.e., screws/rivets) and providing manufacturers with the ability to use lighter materials such as composites and aluminum. Use of these lightweight materials will reduce the overall weight of vehicles resulting in improved fuel economy and performance.
Bonding films are used for bonding applications in automotive production (i.e., interior assemblies, structural components, and electronic modules) where they provide a uniform way of distributing stress over the bonded surfaces and increasing the durability of the bonded connection, while reducing potential for material fatigue. This property has become especially important for electric vehicles (EVs) since bonding films are used for battery packs and electronic systems which require a high level of reliability and thermal stability.
The Aerospace and Rail industries are starting to utilize bonding films to meet their stringent performance and safety requirements. These industries require bonding materials that can withstand high temperatures, are subjected to high levels of vibration and severe environmental conditions. Advanced bonding films are specially designed to withstand these environmental challenges while providing a high degree of adhesion and structural integrity.
Another area of opportunity is due to an increase in automation in manufacturing processes. Bonding films lend themselves very well to automated assembly lines as they are easily applied without the need for positioning or set-up time. Automation in manufacturing is expected to continue to grow resulting in increased use of bonding films in various industries.
