Hydrogenated Bisphenol A - A Strong Alternative to The High-end Bisphenol A Market

Hydrogenated bisphenol A (HBPA) is mainly used to synthesize special resins and is also a pharmaceutical intermediate. At present, the use of hydrogenated bisphenol A to improve the application properties of epoxy resins has become an important means of epoxy resin modification, and its application in special epoxy resins has broad development prospects.

Hydrogenated bisphenol A is synthesized by hydrogenation of bisphenol A, and it is an important new resin raw material in the field of fine chemicals. The application fields of hydrogenated bisphenol A and bisphenol A are basically the same. Bisphenol A is one of the most widely used industrial compounds in the world, mainly used in the production of polycarbonate, epoxy resin and other polymer materials. The largest consumption area of bisphenol A in the world is polycarbonate (about 60%). The demand for epoxy resin in the downstream products of bisphenol A in China is relatively large, but with the rapid increase in the production capacity of polycarbonate, the demand for bisphenol A Demand continues to increase, and the consumption structure will gradually converge with the world.

In 2021, the total consumption of bisphenol A in China will be close to 2.5 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 15.5%. The huge demand base of the bisphenol A market provides a broad high-end market alternative space for hydrogenated bisphenol A products.

Compared with resin products synthesized from bisphenol A, the resin products synthesized by hydrogenated bisphenol A have the following characteristics: non-toxicity, chemical stability, UV resistance, thermal stability and weather resistance.

Using hydrogenated bisphenol A as a raw material can improve the performance of resin products, be more environmentally friendly and healthy, and prolong the service life. Studies have shown that epoxy resin systems without double bonds in the molecule have better weather resistance than bisphenol A epoxy resin systems containing double bonds, and are suitable for outdoor use. Hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin is an epoxy resin that does not contain double bonds in the molecule, and has the advantages of good weather resistance, excellent electrical properties, low viscosity, and good processability.

In addition to the physical properties of the cured product being similar to bisphenol A epoxy resin, the weather resistance of the cured product is significantly enhanced. Therefore, hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin, as a weather resistant epoxy resin, is mainly used for high-end bisphenol A epoxy resin. In the field of manufacturing applications, it can be used in high-value LED packaging, high-value electrical insulating materials, fan blade coatings, medical device components, composite materials and other fields. Hydrogenated bisphenol A can effectively make up for the disadvantages of bisphenol A epoxy resin and polycarbonate in terms of non-toxicity, chemical stability, UV resistance, thermal stability and weather resistance, greatly improving the performance of end products and prolonging product life. 

Therefore, the excellent characteristics of hydrogenated bisphenol A will replace part of the high-end market share of bisphenol A.

① Electronic components packaging materials

At present, the packaging materials of electronic components are mainly epoxy resin-based materials, and among them, LED packaging materials have developed rapidly. Relevant studies have shown that hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin has excellent weather resistance and is expected to replace ordinary bisphenol A epoxy resin in the encapsulation of LEDs and other electronic devices with weather resistance and ultraviolet resistance requirements.

The epoxy resin used for LED encapsulation is required to have the properties of transparency, light color, small change in epoxy equivalent, and small internal stress of the cured product. Ordinary bisphenol A epoxy resin contains unsaturated double bonds in its molecular chain, and the cured product is easily discolored under long-term ultraviolet irradiation, resulting in a significant decrease in transparency, insulation, strength and other indicators, which greatly affects the service life and cannot be satisfied. LEDs are further developing high performance requirements for their encapsulation materials. Hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin can effectively overcome the above shortcomings, and the properties of its cured product are similar to bisphenol A epoxy resin, and it will not reduce the mechanical properties and heat resistance of its cured product. Therefore, LED packaging, which requires high packaging materials, is one of the main application fields of hydrogenated bisphenol A.

② Insulation materials for electrical equipment

Hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin has strong weather resistance and can be used as an insulating material for electrical equipment in outdoor or humid places. It can meet the special requirements of outdoor electrical equipment for insulating materials to adapt to different environments, especially harsh Construction of power transmission and distribution facilities in the environment.

③ Ships, bridges and other metal parts and fan blade coatings

The environmentally friendly epoxy weather-resistant coating produced by hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin can be cured at room temperature. It has no solvent volatilization during manufacturing, construction and drying, and does not pollute the environment. It has excellent weather resistance and corrosion resistance. , bridges, large steel structures, offshore oil platforms, highways, high-speed railways and other facilities, a new generation of protective coatings. Wind power equipment is exposed to the outdoors for a long time and is subjected to atmospheric, water and soil corrosive environments. In addition, the impact of frost, coastal salt spray, lightning, sand and dust, and solar corrosion must also be considered. Therefore, wind power equipment requires higher weather resistance of coatings. , Hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin can meet the needs of such coatings.

④ Medical equipment

Because polycarbonate products can be sterilized by steam, cleaning agents, heating and large doses of radiation without yellowing and physical performance degradation, they are widely used in implanted interventional medical devices, artificial kidney hemodialysis

Bisphenol A phenol is also used in a variety of plastic products in the medical device industry to enhance product performance. But BPA is an endocrine disruptor. Compared with bisphenol A, hydrogenated bisphenol A is non-toxic, and the use of hydrogenated bisphenol A can avoid the health and safety problems caused by the toxicity of bisphenol A, which is in line with the trend of environmental protection and health in the industry. Medical devices produced using hydrogenated bisphenol A as raw materials can not only maintain their existing excellent performance, but also conform to the development trend of healthy and safe medical devices.

⑤ Composite materials

Hydrogenated bisphenol A has a wide application space in the field of composite materials due to its non-toxicity, chemical stability, UV resistance, thermal stability and weather resistance. For example, studies have shown that hydrogenated bisphenol A epoxy resin matrix composites can meet the requirements of space inflation and expansion devices in the space expansion and deployment structure, and hydrogenated bisphenol A can meet the performance requirements of aerospace engineering for special composite materials.