Rubber Foam Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Rigidity (Rigid Foam, Flexible Foam), By Foam Type (Polyurethane Foam, Cross-linked Polyethylene Foam, Neoprene Foam, Silicone Foam, Polyvinyl Chloride Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (PVC NBR blend) Foam, Others), By Application (Household Furnishing, Construction, Automotive) Others and Regional Forecast, 2024-2032

Rubber Foam refers to a polymeric rubber that has undergone the blowing process to form an air-filled matrix structure. Rubber foam is manufactured using two key components, a blowing agent (a gaseous chemical) and a liquid cocktail. The liquid cocktail consists of various polymers, elastomers, water, and other chemical additives such as flame retardants and adhesives. The blowing agent forms a mass of small bubbles within the final material that helps establish its properties. Rubber foams are known for their endurance and compressibility. Rubber foam has found application in household furnishing, automotive cushioning, packaging, and many other fields.

The growth in e-commerce across the globe has resulted in large scale demand for packaging products to ensure the safe delivery of the goods and products to the consumers. With the rise in regulations against traditional polymer packaging products such as polystyrene, the packaging industry is looking for sustainable alternatives. Rubber foam is one of the key sustainable packaging materials. This material offers properties such as high thrust absorption, moisture control, and flame retardance on addition of proper additives. This has resulted in finding huge traction for rubber foam in the packaging industry.

Key Market Driver -

Increase in uptake by packaging industry

Key Market Restraint -

Presence of multiple effective alternatives

Rubber foam competes with alternatives such as polymer films, metal foams, and other polymer foams which perform the functions similar to rubber foam. These alternatives have better performance characteristics, thus resulting in reduced uptake by the end-users. If the price of such products also falls in-line with the rubber foam, it further affects the uptake of rubber foam from the end-users.

Market Segmentation:

By rigidity, the market is segmented into rigid foam and flexible foam. Based on foam type, rubber foams are categorized as polyurethane foam, cross-linked polyethylene foam, neoprene foam, silicone foam, polyvinyl chloride – acrylonitrile butadiene nitrile (PVC – NBR blend) foam, and others. Based on application, the market is segmented into household furnishing, construction, automotive, packaging, safety products, and others.

From a geographical standpoint, the market is categorized into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa, which are further categorized into key countries.

Key Players Covered:

Some of the key players in the global rubber foam market include BASF Corporation, Chemline Inc., Crown Foam Technologies, Dow Chemical Company, EDP Mexico, Novagard, Fostek Corporation, Henkel Corporation, Intex Technologies LLC, iVEX Protective packaging, K-FLEX USA, Kent Adhesive Products Co., Netplast Pvt. Ltd., Popfoam, Huamei Energy Saving Technology (Jiangxi) Co. Ltd., Rogers Corporation, Siant-Gobain Tape Solutions, Silicone Engineering ltd., SWD Urethane, The Supreme Industries Ltd., and Toyo Quality One Corp.

Regional Analysis:

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The global rubber foam market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The prominent market for rubber foam is Europe, followed by North America. Europe not only has several foam manufacturers but also has a booming automobile and packaging industry. North America has higher economic stability and stringent laws against plastics as compared to Europe, thus showing significant demand for rubber foam. Asia-Pacific rubber foam market is expected to show healthy growth in the upcoming decade with increased exposure to e-commerce, and significant investments by automobile manufacturers in India and China. The market in Middle East & Africa is also expected to show steady growth due to the rising infrastructural activities in various countries in the region.

Segmentation

Rubber Foam Industry Developments

• In October 2019, Hynudai Motor Company’s  Ulsan, Korea plant signed a deal with BASF to exclusively use BASF-developed Elastofex, a flexible PU foam, for production of its car seats. Higher comfortability, better elasticity and improved load distribution capability of Elastofex is the primary reason for its selection over conventional foams, states BASF.


• In May 2019, Huamei Energy Saving Technology (Jiangxi) Co. Ltd. started the operations at their Jiangxi based manufacturing facility. The company put up another production base for its thermal insulation and energy-saving offerings including rubber foams. Furthermore, the company targets strong brand growth in China with this expansion.