Welded Metal Bellows Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis, By Type (Stainless Steel Bellows, High Nickel Alloys, Others), By Application (High Vacuum Seals, Leak-Free Motion Feedthroughs, Flexible Joints, Volume Compensators, Accumulators, Pressure and Temperature Actuators), and Regional Forecast, 2032

The global welded metal bellows market size was valued at USD 239.8 Million in 2019 and is estimated to reach USD 475.9 Million by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period between 2020-2032.

In industrial terms, bellows are known as flexible seals, as they exhibit a predictable spring rate owing to its elastic properties. In the manufacturing sector, the bellows are mostly adopted in critical situations, especially in precise engineering. There are number of application of such bellows in high vacuum seals, flexible joints, accumulators, and many more. A welded bellow is used in several industries owing to its features such as spring rate, leak rate stroke requirements, chemical resistance, and many more.

Before 2020, the welded metal bellows market was growing significantly owing to its increasing adoption in critical applications. The widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in decline of the market growth opportunities, sales and revenue owing to the lockdown announced by several government agencies. Moreover, the impact on manufacturing industry has been relatively limited. Briefly, the influence primarily lies in supply chain obstruction and difficulty in improving production owing to the lack of traffic restrictions and personnel mobility. The enormity of these disruptions increases as the time to recovery extends. Thereby, the market is expected to grow gradually in coming years and recover momentarily over the forecast period.

LATEST TRENDS

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Particularity of Material Utilized in Specific Industry

The engineers prioritize metal bellow characteristics such as leak rate, spring rate, chemical resistance, and life cycle. It is owing to the utilization of metal bellows for hydraulic applications such as fluid power control, volume consumption, and valve seals. In modern circumstances, the utilization of material according to industrial applications is a growing trend. Prominent players are manufacturing material focused metal bellows for particular industry applications. Various materials including nickel, titanium, stainless steel, Inconel, and copper are available for different industrial applications.

Semiconductor, aerospace, healthcare, and oil & gas industries prefer 316 stainless steel metal bellows owing to its low magnetic permeability. Chemical and semiconductor industries are also opting for copper metal bellows attributed to low magnetic conductivity. For instance, Duraflex, Inc. is offering stainless steel and Inconel welded bellows (the mechanical face seals) that are specifically designed for every industrial application from aerospace exploration to zirconium processing.

Moreover, these bellows are utilized for rotational indication in oil & gas, military & defense, aerospace, and industrial automation industries. Due to the rotational rigidity, while moving flexibly along a primary axis, bellows that are joined at ends to shafts (that are misaligned or subject to linear or angular change) can be utilized as a coupling or rotating indicator.

Therefore, these factors are up holding the market growth in precise industrial applications.

DRIVING FACTORS

Industrialization across the Globe is Boosting the Growth of the Market

The demand for welded bellows is growing with the expansion of industry verticals, including power generation, automotive, semiconductor, oil & gas, and others. The manufacturers across the globe are focused on advancing economic competitiveness and safeguarding the environment by utilizing the materials that have less effect on the operational process.

Moreover, owing to the change in end-user preferences, the manufacturers are focusing on producing such bellows across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific where the consumption rate is high. For instance, Technetics group designs and manufactures high-precision bellows by utilizing complex mechanical systems. The company offers its application to aerospace, semiconductor, oil & gas, and healthcare industries.

Moreover, Bellowstech offers customized flexible stainless steel bellows to survive high pressure, temperature, and corrosive media associated with the oil & gas industry. Additionally, test equipment designed for mud while drilling (MWD) and logging while drilling (LWD) utilizes these bellows. In the oil & gas industry, bellows are utilized as sealing in a refrigerant compressor. The sealing provides diverse tensile strength to refrigerant thus, reducing the cost of replacing the compressor.

The increasing applications of welded metal bellows in the oil and gas industry and chemical & petrochemical industry owing to its low axial operating face load and inherent hydraulic balance is complimenting the market growth. Therefore, the global market is experiencing growth, owing to the expansion of industrial applications.

RESTRAINING FACTORS

Customized offerings and Unsuitable Industrial Environment Curb the Market Growth

Most of the manufacturers offer welded metal bellows as per the end-user demand. The bellows being small-sized components, have chances of breakdown failure owing to the high temperature at welded joints, where the excess heat possibly reduces the metal strength. Reduced metal strength shortens the life span of bellows, thereby, shrinking the volatility of bellows material. Moreover, there is a lack of availability of substitutes in the market owing to the customized offerings of metal bellows. This results in a high cost of raw material in the case of spot manufacturing. As a consequence, it is difficult to avail of the instant replacement of welded bellow in case of breakdown failure in manufacturing plants.

The sealing effect of bellows is as good as the environment it is utilized in. But for certain industrial applications, the metal bellows are unsuitably selected owing to the fundamental lack of design limitation awareness amongst end-users. For instance, in the food and beverage industry, the utilization of metal bellows is accounted to be unfavorable. This is owing to the bellows convolutions that create bug traps, which is difficult to clean thoroughly during the operational process.

At present, the market is facing a challenge of complete shutdown owing to the pandemic of COVID 19. It is spreading widely across the globe and is relentlessly affecting the end-use industries such as aerospace, healthcare, semiconductor, and others. However, on a long term basis, the outlook exhibits growth potentials as the market players are focused on expanding the manufacturing opportunities in the future ahead.

SEGMENTATION

By Type Analysis

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Adoption of Stainless Steel Metal Bellows is Expected to Dominate the Market

Based on type, the market segments are stainless steel, high nickel alloys, and others (copper bellows, etc.). Among these, stainless steel welded bellows remain dominant and is anticipated to observe a significant growth in the coming period. Moreover, the welded stainless steel bellows are the common and easily available metal bellows ideal to withstand very low temperatures. These bellows provide a high degree of flexibility and pressure resistance capabilities owing to its excellent tensile strength viable to maximize stroke and minimize package size. The major applications wherein these bellows are deployed include electrical interrupters, power transmission systems, and industrial controls. Therefore, considering all its features, the adoption of such bellows will increase, which in turn will expect to boost the market over the forecast period.

Furthermore, Nickel welded bellows refer to the bellows which are ideally suited for high temperature owing to its properties of hard material with excellent corrosion resistance. This type of metal bellows is extensively used in aerospace applications. Therefore, the growth of high nickel alloys is expected to grow gradually over the forecast period.

By Application Analysis

Application of Welded Metal Bellows in Flexible Joints is Expected to Hold the Highest Market Share

Based on application, the market is bifurcated into high vacuum seals, leak-free motion feedthroughs, flexible joints, volume compensator & accumulators, and pressure and temperature actuators. Wherein, leak-free motion feedthroughs, and flexible joints are expected to showcase a significant growth rate during the forecast period. This is owing to several hydraulic and mechanical use.

Furthermore, the primary application of major welded metal bellows are to overcome chemical attack glitches on elastomers, while creating a high vacuum seal in the machine that increases the lifecycle of the machine. Furthermore, several industries adopt the welded bellows for sealing of the path, without considering whether the environment of the application will be suited or not, hence resulting in continuous replacement of the bellows.

Volume compensators, accumulators and pressure and temperature actuators are expected to grow moderately during the forecast period.

REGIONAL INSIGHTS

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The market is bifurcated into five regions that are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East & Africa, and South America, which are further categorized into countries.

Among these, Asia Pacific holds the major share of the welded metal bellow market. The upsurge in demand from various industries such as aerospace, automotive, military & defense, power & energy, and petrochemical is resulting in an increased need for bellows. Furthermore, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers indicated that the total passenger vehicle trade increased by 2.7%, in the first quarter of 2019. Furthermore, evolving government initiatives are boosting market revenue across the region.

North America is expected to observe moderate growth owing to the demand from the aerospace industry. According to the secondary sources, United States accounts for the largest share of approximately 49% of the global aerospace industry. According to the Aerospace Industries Association in 2017, U.S. aerospace and defense market revenue was valued at USD 865 million.

Besides, South America is anticipated to perceive slow growth owing to the challenging developments in Brazil. According to the National Statistics Agency of Brazil, the Brazil industrial production fell by 0.2% in April 2019. Moreover, South America is expected to have adverse impact of the current pandemic in the coming months, which will result in declined growth of the manufacturing industries. Thereby, resulting in decreased requirement of the welded bellow products.

Europe is expected to exhibit steady growth owing to rising presence of chemical manufacturing industries along with growing use of welded bellows in aerospace, and marine industries. Furthermore, countries such as Germany and Italy are expected to show steady growth compared to other countries in the region owing to the demand from major industries such as the oil & gas and food & beverage. According to Germany Trade and Invest, machinery & equipment is the second largest sector in Germany and was valued at USD 251.33 million in 2018.

Additionally, the Middle East and Africa that holds more than 65% of global oil refineries in the region will exhibit slow growth during the forecast period. This is ascribable to factors such as uncertainty in the global crude oil demand and consumption.

KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

Major Companies are Focusing on Acquiring Small and Mid-sized Companies

Mirapro Co., Ltd., Hyspan Precision Products, Inc., Weldmac Manufacturing Co., Eagle Industry Co., Ltd., Senior plc, Aesseal plc, Technetics Group are the prominent players covering around 45% - 50% of the market.

The increased revenue and market share of these players is owing to their dominant presence in the market. End-users incline to install welded bellows from these key players as they have a strong brand name and goodwill in the market. Furthermore, prominent players are working on manufacturing efficient bellows for end-users, which will allow the machines to uphold larger weights. Moreover, key industry leaders are focusing on partnering and acquiring the medium and low size companies of developing countries, to develop and offer innovative products. Additionally, leading players are also focused on increasing their footprints in different developing countries.

LIST OF KEY COMPANIES PROFILED: 

• KSM CO., LTD. (Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea)


• BOA Group (Karlsruhe, Germany)


• TECHNETICS GROUP. (Columbia, United States)


• AESSEAL (South Yorkshire, United Kingdom)


• Senior plc (Rickmansworth, United Kingdom)


• Metal-Flex Welded Bellows, Inc. (Vermont, Switzerland)


• Duraflex Inc. (Illinois, United States)


• Mirapro Co., Ltd. (Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan)


• Flex–A-Seal (Vermont, United States)


• Weldmac Manufacturing Co. (California, United States)


• Eagle Industry Co., Ltd. (Kanto Japan)


• Hyspan Precision Products, Inc. (California, United States)

KEY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS:

• June 2018–MW Industries, Inc. acquired Bellowstech, a U.S. manufacturer of edge welded metal bellows. MW Industries, Inc. offers fasteners, springs and critical components for aerospace applications. The company holds ISO9001 certified quality system for components.


• March 2017–Flex-A-Seal acquired H&S Sealing to expand the product range of its costumed mechanical seals and welded bellows in the southern United States and throughout the country.

REPORT COVERAGE

The market research qreport focuses on leading regions across the globe to offer a better understanding for the end-users. Moreover, the report offers insight into the industry dynamics and analyzes technologies that are utilized at a rapid pace across the world. It further displays some of the key factors and restraints to help the readers to gain in-depth knowledge about the market.

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