To solve economical, technical and environmental constraints encountered every day, designers at the cutting edge of technology replace more and more often conventional materials with plastics, composites and other industrial polymers. Those materials compete with steel, aluminium, glass, paper and cardboard, wood, and even building and civil engineering materials.
Application sectors are as diversified as Packaging, Building & civil engineering, Automobile & transportation, Aeronautics & Space, Electricity & electronics, Household, Entertainment & Office Appliances etc.
According to the considered market, the penetration of plastics and composites evolves from the totality of the production, for example automotive bumpers or fuel tanks or small household appliance housing and casing where metals are nearly ousted, down to few consuming applications such as wire supports or highly conductive polymers for electronics. Potential applications are various and promising, for example, glazing, structural parts, electronic displays, building materials, bridges, fuel cells...