Advanced Materials

• The rising demand for acoustic and thermal insulation in the building & construction industry in developing economies including China and India is expected to increase the demand for high-quality polymers.
• 2.5 billion people in over 190 countries use Unilever products every day and supporting their transition away from carbon-intensive polymers could have a significant impact on the use of plastics, polymers and fossil fuel-derived chemicals globally.
• The UK Budget saw a lot more stimulus and QE will likely be required to keep rates in check: the UK government announced a larger-than-expected fiscal stimulus package (£59 billion) and revealed a shift in the composition of gilt issuance to favour longer-term bonds and linkers.
• To some extent increased demand for services will be met by undoing some of the shift in the composition of spending which occurred last year; so, some people who had worked delivering meals to houses in 2020 will shift into work at restaurants in 2021.
• Very large wind blade molds will be printed on the world's largest polymer 3D printer located at the UMaine Composites Center using recyclable bio-based materials reinforced with wood.
• The Indo-Pacific region will see dramatic shifts in its population composition in the next few decades - a trend that already has begun.
• One of the projects also receiving funding is lead by Worcestershire-based global engineering firm GKN Aerospace, and aims to develop new lightweight, composite technology for parts such as aircraft wings.
• Cincinnati and ORNL's large-scale fiber parts definitely make sense and will open up many new businesses.
• The second largest economy, France, fared better with readings that surpassed expectations at 45.6 for services and 47.0 for the Composite PMI; analysts had predicted 43.6 and 45.2, respectively.
• In Somalia, some internally displaced persons (IDPs) sites have been hotspots for clan conflict, as sudden influxes of different communities upend local clan compositions and threaten the control of dominant groups.
• While capacities for polyhydroxyalkanoates will grow in Asia and North America, casein polymers in Europe will increase by 32% until 2025, followed by increases in PE in South America and Europe, PLA mainly in Europe and PBAT in Asia with about 8%.
• More rapid advances in the field of polymer chains could help address the problem of plastic pollution, which has grown more acute since China has cut its imports of recyclable material.
• The 10-megawatt (MW) polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis facility will produce up to 1,500 metric tons / year of renewable hydrogen, with the plant expected online in the second half of 2023.
• With recent shifts in public opinion in Lebanon, the political leaders' loss of popular support, as well as a possible resumption of street protests, the election result might bring changes to the current composition of the parliament, where Hezbollah, and its allies enjoy a majority.
• The Brewed Protein polymers will be produced by ADM in the US using plant - based dextrose as a feedstock, and then shipped to Spiber's downstream facilities, where they will be processed into an array of materials - primarily fibres - for use in a variety of applications.
• The James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in October, will probe the planets' atmospheres (if they have any) for signs of chemical elements that would reveal in more detail what they are made of.
• The global VFX Market was estimated at USD 11,500 Million in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 24,949.9 Million by 2026.
• A recent study of Chinese herbal medicines indicated that a pentaherbs formula could suppress a variety of immune effector cells and alleviate symptoms of allergic asthma by altering the composition of the gut microbiota and metabolites.
• While inflation is expected to rise in 2021, it will be driven by one-off statistical effects linked to the composition of the consumption basket, as well as base effects following on from previous energy price falls and the unwinding of the VAT cut in Germany.
• The Fed and other central banks of advanced economies have a unique opportunity to turn the size and composition of their balance sheets into instruments of macroeconomic management.
• The additive manufacturing market for polymer jigs and fixtures is expected to grow at a 14.2% annual rate between 2019 and 2023, to nearly $600 million, double the growth rate of the prior four years.

Last updated: 18 April 2021