Microsphere Market Overview
The major trend being witnessed in the global microsphere market is the increased investments for boosting the capacity of microparticles. Owing to their large-scale application in wide range of industries, a large number of players engaged in the production of microsphere products will continue to expand their production capacity. The fresh investment is majorly directed in upgradation of machinery, expansion of product line, and geographical expansion. Thus, rising investment trend is likely to enhance the availability of the products in the demand generating regions.
Microspheres are basically microparticles that are typically spherical in shape. The diameter of these microparticles ranges from 1 μm to 1000 μm. These could be made from synthetic or natural materials. Some of the commercially available microparticles include glass, ceramic, and polymer. These spheres have several uses, such as providing measuring tool in biotechnology and drug research, decreasing material density, drug delivery, flow visualization, cosmetics applications, thermal insulation, and usage as exfoliating agent.
On the basis of type, the microsphere market has been bifurcated into hollow and solid. The market demand is majorly driven by the sales of hollow microspheres as they have low density, crush strength, and absorption capabilities. These microparticles are widely used in the polyester manufacturing industry for formulating fiber-reinforced polymers. Moreover, they are also used in in paints and coating applications for manufacturing high quality paints used in construction projects.
Based on the raw material, the microsphere market has been categorized into glass, ceramics, fly ash, polymer, and metallic. Glass microspheres category held a significant share in the market during the historical period. Glass-based microspheres are used for variety of applications including research, consumer goods, and medicine. Also, owing to its usage in developing products such as automotive mirrors, gas plasma displays, filters, electronic displays, and flip chips, and other electronic equipment, the market is expected to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period.
Based on application, the microsphere market has been categorized into construction, healthcare, cosmetics, automotive, and oil and gas. The demand for these spheres is expected to remain the highest in healthcare applications during the forecast period, owing to rising need for implant surgeries in regions such as North America and Asia-Pacific.
Based on region, the microsphere market has been categorized into Europe, North America, Asia-pacific, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. Among all the regions, North America held the largest market share in 2017, owing to the high consumption of these spheres in construction composites and medical technology. The U.S. held the largest share in the North American microsphere market, due to the technological advancements and high consumption of these spheres in automotive, construction composites, and medical technology. However, Europe also held a significant share in the market due to the increasing development of end-use industries in the region.
Microsphere Market Dynamics
Growth Drivers
The major driver identified in the microsphere market is the increasing compliance of microparticles in the medical technology. Major application areas of microparticles include bone tissue engineering, drug delivery, regeneration, absorption and desorption of chemical substances, and kinetic release of drug components into the body. Modernization of medical sector in terms of technology will create favorable opportunities for the growth of the market during the forecast period.
Restraints
Major restraints identified in the microsphere market are the fluctuating raw materials prices and requirement of huge capital investment for research and development of microspheres. The high capital investments and fluctuation in raw material prices have a negative impact in the liquidity of a company due to which a large number of companies engaged in the production of these microparticles have deferred their decisions to expand their production capacity.
Opportunities
With rapid urbanization and industrialization, the microsphere market is growing exponentially in emerging economies. In coming years, emerging countries are expected to witness rise in the middle-class population, which will further boost the demand for electronic items and automobiles in these countries. The growing demand for automobiles and electronic devices is encouraging the market growth.
Microsphere Market – Competitive Landscape
Some of the major players operating in the global microsphere market include 3M Company, Akzo Nobel N.V., Luminex Corporation, Momentive Performance Materials, Matsumoto Yushi-Seiyaku Co. Ltd., Trelleborg AB, Mo-Sci Corporation, Potters Industries LLC, and Sigmund Lindner GmbH.
The study provides the historical as well the forecast market size data for various countries including the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Japan, China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.
