Top 10 Technological Trends of Rubber and Plastic in 2025（1~5）
In 2025, Yashi Rubber and Plastic Network will release the following ten technological trends in rubber and plastic, analyze the trajectory of technological innovation in the rubber and plastic industry, help upstream and downstream enterprises in the rubber and plastic industry chain seize market opportunities, and empower the high-quality development of the rubber and plastic industry.
High value recycled plastics
Significance: As a key measure to practice the plastic circular economy, the high-value application of recycled plastics not only helps reduce carbon emissions in the industrial chain, but also creates economic benefits for the plastic circular economy.
We have noticed that the recycling channels for recycled plastics are showing a diversified trend:
Traditional physical recycling plays an important role in the field of recycled plastics due to its high cost-effectiveness.
Chemical recycling breaks through the bottleneck limitations of material performance and impurities, effectively treating the recycling and regeneration of mixed waste plastics and special plastics.
Regenerated marine plastics not only reduce the ecological burden on the ocean, but also inject new vitality into the plastic circular economy.
The recycling and regeneration of elastomers has broken the traditional disposal methods of elastomer scrap and incineration, effectively reducing environmental pollution and resource waste.
2. Biobased plastics
Significance: Biobased plastics, with their unique environmentally friendly properties and advantages in renewable resource technologies, have become one of the key forces driving the sustainable development of the plastic industry.
We have noticed that, thanks to the optimization and improvement of material formulations and technological innovation in production processes, the sources and applications of bio based plastics are showing the following trends:
Non grainization of raw materials: In addition to traditional starch and cellulose, non grain substances such as lignin and waste oil are becoming important sources of bio based plastic raw materials, effectively reducing resource competition between bio based plastic production and food production.
Multi dimensional improvement in strength and toughness, diversified applications: Biomass and petroleum based biodegradable plastics have shown great potential in packaging, agriculture, healthcare, and textile industries. Non degradable biomass plastics not only cover packaging applications, but also play an important role in fields such as construction, automotive, and electronics.
3. Low carbon regeneration and recycling process
Significance: Low carbon recycling technology is a key link in building a plastic closed-loop system. By collecting, processing, and treating waste plastics, it can turn waste into treasure and effectively reduce the accumulation of waste plastics in the environment.
We have noticed that low-carbon regeneration and recycling processes are showing the following development trends:
Intelligent sorting: In the sorting process, sensors or programming algorithms are used to quickly and accurately identify the type, color, and composition of plastics, with a sorting accuracy of over 95%, effectively improving the recovery rate and purity of waste plastics.
Integration of crushing, cleaning, and granulation processes: The integration of waste plastic crushing, cleaning, and granulation processes tightly connects the originally scattered links together, forming a continuous and efficient recycling process, achieving efficient utilization of time and space.
Bottle to bottle same level recycling: reduces the degradation cycle of plastic bottles in the recycling process, allowing plastics to circulate in their highest value application areas. In addition, due to the high requirements for recycling technology and equipment in bottle to bottle recycling, it is also conducive to promoting the upgrading and innovation of the plastic recycling industry.
4. Skin friendly soft materials
Significance: Skin friendly soft materials such as thermoplastic elastomers and liquid silicone have played an important role in improving product design freedom, user comfort, safety, and other aspects.
We have noticed that these materials are deeply penetrating into various fields such as green intelligent travel, medical high biocompatibility applications, and light luxury fashion.
Green intelligent travel: Thermoplastic elastomers can help achieve lightweight and functional integration of car interior and exterior decoration, improving comfort; Liquid silicone plays an important role in expanding high-performance sealing applications, deepening the electronic and electrical fields, innovating optical component applications, microforming and precision manufacturing, and improving component wear resistance.
Medical high biocompatibility applications: Thermoplastic elastomers and liquid silicone play important roles in high-end interventional instruments, minimally invasive surgical instruments, medical robot components, medical catheters, wearable medical devices, and medical imaging components. In addition, liquid silicone can also be used as a soft tissue filling material for medical beauty projects such as facial wrinkle removal and depression filling.
Light luxury fashion: Thermoplastic elastomers can be used to improve the comfort of fashionable products such as shoe uppers, soles, and bags, while liquid silicone is commonly used in wearable, beauty equipment, phone cases, and eyeglass accessories to enhance user experience.
5. Lightweight, functional materials, and additives
Significance: Lightweight materials, functional materials, and additives play an important role in helping products reduce weight, improve stability, and enhance environmental value, from high-precision aerospace, booming new energy vehicles, electronic appliances, medical consumables, and the poised low altitude economy.
We have found that these materials are constantly iterating and innovating on the following performance characteristics:
High performance: high strength, high toughness and fatigue resistance, high heat resistance and thermal stability, chemical corrosion resistance, high conductivity and dielectric properties, high transparency and low haze, etc. High performance materials are not only suitable for harsh and complex application environments, but also provide possibilities for the research and development, manufacturing, and even industrial upgrading of high-end products.
Specialization: Through precise formula design, meet the application requirements of specific products and optimize key performance indicators of the products.
Environmental friendliness: In addition to using recycled plastics and bioplastics, the characteristics of halogen-free flame retardancy, low VOC, and recyclability significantly enhance the environmental value of the product.
In addition, various composite materials such as carbon fiber reinforced composites and glass fiber reinforced composites have also achieved technological innovation breakthroughs in lightweight and high-performance aspects. They not only help reduce weight of products, but also significantly enhance their high temperature resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, conductivity and thermal conductivity, achieving multiple functional integrations.
