1. Industrial production of epoxy resin in the world

The first industrially valuable Bisphenol A epoxy resin of the world was manufactured in 1947 by Devoe-Raynolds of the United States. It opened up the technical history of chlorine-bisphenol A resin, and epoxy resin began industrial development; At the same time, epoxy resin is considered to be a technological advancement over phenolic resin and polyester resin.

2. Industrial production of epoxy resin in China

China began to develop epoxy resin in 1956, and first succeeded in the laboratory in Shanghai and Shenyang. In 1958, Shanghai Resin Factory and Wuxi Resin Factory started industrial production. The industrial production of Bisphenol A epoxy resin in China has been 60 years, but it was slower before the 1980s. After the reform and opening up, with the rapid development of China’s economic construction, China has rapidly developed into the world’s largest epoxy resin producing country, producing country and the world’s largest epoxy resin consumer and market.
The epoxy fiberglass board produced by Shenzhen Core-Tex Composite Materials Co.,Ltd. has been well received by peers.

3. Industrial production of epoxy resin supporting materials in China

The epoxy resin must be crosslinked into a macromolecular solid of a network structure under the action of a curing agent and its functional auxiliary agent to show the excellent performance of the epoxy resin. However, in the 1970s and 1980s, the production of curing agents in China could not meet the needs of applied technologies, regardless of quality, performance or variety.
To this end, China’s applied technology researchers cooperate with relevant synthetic production enterprises to jointly develop new materials to meet the new epoxy resin, curing agent and other supporting materials that are urgently needed for scientific and technological development.

1. June 11th to 13th of 1980 in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, the “E-39-D Electrical Grade Epoxy Resin” appraisal meeting was approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Petrochemical Department. E-39-D electrical grade epoxy resin was developed and put into industrial production by Jiaxing Chemical Plant.

2. November 1st to 3rd of 1982, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, The appraisal of “HK-021 Epoxy Resin Liquid Acid Curing Agent” was approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Petrochemical Department. HK-021 liquid anhydride curing agent is developed and industrialized by Wenzhou Qingming Chemical Plant.

3. In October 1981, the “Electrical Grade Silicon Micropowder” Technical Appraisal Conference hosted by the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Commission was approved in Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. The electrical grade silicon micropowder was developed and put into industrial production by “Huzhou Silicon Micropowder Factory”.

4. In May 1983, Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, the “T-31 Modified Amine Curing Agent” appraisal meeting hosted by the Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Commission passed the appraisal; “T-31 modified amine curing agent” was jointly developed by Jiangsu Kunshan Additives Factory and East China Institute of Chemical Technology, and was put into industrial production by Jiangsu Kunshan Additives Factory. The T-31 amine curing agent is a phenalkamine curing agent which is obtained by reacting with mandarin and formaldehyde. The monomolecular fatty amine curing agent has been completely changed to have high volatile toxicity, irritating to the skin and respiratory system, and is harmful to the human body. At the same time, the operation time is short, the cured product is brittle, and the comprehensive performance is poor.

4. The turning point in the development of China’s epoxy resin industrial production

The industrial production of epoxy resin in China began in 1958 and has been 60 years since then, but the industrialization of epoxy resin in the first 30 years has been slow. After the reform and opening up, especially the Yueyang Petrochemical Complex Epoxy Resin Plant introduced an annual output of 3,000 tons of epoxy resin equipment from Japan Dongdu Chemical Company in 1988, and after the introduction of an annual output of 3,000 tons of epoxy resin equipment from the German company Barkite in 1989, Wuxi Petrochemical General Plant, China’s epoxy resin industry has developed rapidly.

1. In 1987, the epoxy resin plant of Yueyang Petrochemical Complex of Yueyang City, Hunan Province introduced an annual output of 3,000 tons of high-purity epoxy resin equipment from Japan Dongdu Chemical Co., Ltd., and completed production in 1989. This is the first advanced epoxy resin production unit introduced in China.

2. In 1990, Wuxi Petrochemical General Plant of Jiangsu Province introduced an annual output of 3,000 tons of electronic grade epoxy resin equipment from Barklite, Germany.

5. Establishment of epoxy resin system concept

Epoxy resin application technology is a combination of professional epoxy resin, curing agent, active dilution, functional additives, fillers, etc., called the “epoxy resin system” concept.

“Epoxy resin system” and “epoxy resin” are two different concepts. “Epoxy resin system” emphasizes the compatibility, professionalism, specificity and functionality of epoxy resin application technology materials; but the “epoxy resin” is only a single, versatile, universal, and general concept.

That because, although epoxy resin castables, potting materials, anti-corrosion coatings, structural adhesives, glass fiber reinforced composite materials and architectural structural adhesives, etc. have already appeared on the market as epoxy resin systems. However, few people understand it from the perspective of “system”, but only develop a new product from a single way of epoxy resin, curing agent and other auxiliary materials. This often delays the time to solve technical problems due to their own politics.

“Epoxy resin system” is a holistic and systematic perspective, with special emphasis on the coordination and cooperation of other functional auxiliary materials such as epoxy resin, curing agent, toughening agent and reactive diluent. Therefore, the simultaneous development and development of China’s epoxy resin formulation materials can be realized, and combined with application technology, the speed of materials or products on the market can be accelerated. In the past few years, great progress has been made and competition can be won in competition with world products. The key point is that in recent years, the adjustment and upgrading of China’s epoxy resin industry structure has begun to adapt to the needs of international standards, epoxy resin. The results of coordination and exchanges between scientific research, production and business units in the system industry.

In recent years, China has adopted a multi-sectoral, cross-system combination and coordination, and joint efforts, in the magnetic suspension train long stator epoxy resin supporting system and molding process technology; nuclear power generation epoxy resin supporting materials and application process technology; wind turbine blade epoxy resin supporting system and forming process technology; High-speed railway non-slag plate structure track rail epoxy resin filling supporting materials; and air gap-free epoxy resin composite material system; nano-grade epoxy resin encapsulant (glue) and other epoxy resin supporting systems have achieved localization, which is sufficient Explains the role and development of the “epoxy resin system”.

Importantly, the development of China’s epoxy resin system is closely related to and interdependent with the technological advancement of epoxy resin application technology; At the same time, they promote each other and promote each other. Therefore, the combination of epoxy resin, curing agent, toughening agent, diluent, filler, accelerator and colorant and other supporting materials and epoxy resin application technology has been formed into an epoxy resin system. Epoxy resin formulation design is unique in the field of polymer synthetic materials according to the variability of application technology and the diversity of forming process technology. The development practice and facts of China’s epoxy resin over the past 60 years have proved the truth: application technology has promoted the development of the synthetic industry, and the development of the synthetic industry has promoted the technological advancement of applied technology.

6. China is a big epoxy resin country in the world, but still not a strong country.

Since the industrialization of epoxy resin production in China in 1958, the development of application technology has made epoxy resin widely used, and the output has increased year by year. However, before the 1980s, the development was slow and the quality was poor. After the reform and opening up, especially in the late 1980s, China introduced the world’s advanced production technology and process equipment. The quality of China’s epoxy resin reached the same level in the world, and the production capacity and output increased significantly.

In 1986, the annual output of China’s epoxy resin was about 15,000 tons.

In 2013, China’s total epoxy resin production capacity reached 2.03 million tons, the world’s total production capacity was 4.06 million tons, and China accounted for about 50%.

In 2015, there were 6 companies with an epoxy resin production capacity of over 100,000 tons in China, and the largest was 320,000 tons. In 2015, the average operating rate of China’s epoxy resin industry was about 60%.