Domestic lithium battery aluminum plastic film lost in where?

【China Aluminum Network] At present, the domestic aluminum-plastic film market is monopolized by four Japanese and Korean enterprises, namely, Great Japan Printing (DNP), Showa Electric, Letterpress Printing (T & T) and Li Village.

The key point of the localization of aluminum plastic film is to get rid of the state of dependence on imports and carry out technological innovation from the inside. This requires upstream and downstream enterprises to work together and cooperate, battery enterprises should not stifle the enthusiasm of domestic aluminum plastic film enterprises.

In 2015, the domestic output of soft-pack lithium batteries was 19.8GWh, accounting for 42.3%, ranking first in the market share. Since this year, the high energy density of soft pack batteries has been more favored by the market, and the market penetration rate is expected to continue to increase.

As the key material of the soft pack battery aluminum plastic film, the market heat continues to rise.

Domestic aluminum plastic film many problems to be solved

As the core material of soft-pack battery, aluminum-plastic film is far more difficult than diaphragm, positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte, and is one of the three high-tech industries in the lithium battery industry.

Up to now, including TD Optics, Zijiang New Material, Xinlun Technology, Su Da Huicheng, Dongguan Excellence, Zhuhai Saiwei, Buddha Plastic Technology, Mingguan New Material, Lianyungang Shenyuan and other more than 15 enterprises involved in the field.

Industry data show that in 2016, the demand for aluminum-plastic film for lithium batteries in China (excluding factories of foreign-funded enterprises in China, except ATL) was 95 million ㎡, and the market share of domestic aluminum-plastic film was only 7%. In the field of aluminum plastic film, there is a huge import substitution market for mining.

However, despite the bright prospects of the aluminum-plastic film market, the road to its localization is not smooth under high-tech barriers.

Product Performance

From the product performance point of view, there are five major defects in China's aluminum-plastic film products.

Front isAluminum FoilThe surface treatment process is backward and polluted;

The second is that the water treatment of aluminum foil will produce "hydrogen embrittlement", resulting in poor resistance to disassembly of aluminum plastic film;

The third is that the surface stiffness of the aluminum foil is not enough and the yield is poor;

The fourth is that CPP is easy to curl when compounded with the surface of high thermal conductivity aluminum foil, resulting in lamellar crystallization;

Fifth, the domestic adhesive formulation process is poor, prone to delamination problems.

Upstream enterprise demand side

From the demand side of upstream enterprises, there are also two major constraints.

One is the state of high dependence on imports of raw materials. Under the process nature of aluminum-plastic film high-tech barriers, the quality and performance requirements of raw materials are extremely high, while the products of domestic upstream enterprises cannot meet the performance requirements. Aluminum-plastic film enterprises can only carry out product research and development based on imported raw materials. If the situation of domestic raw materials lacking technical support cannot be changed, it will inevitably lead to the fracture of upstream and downstream industrial chains and restrict the localization process of aluminum-plastic film.

The second is that production equipment is heavily dependent on imports. Aluminum-plastic film is composed of three layers of film through adhesive additives. The thickness of each layer of film is 15-50μm. Under the composite structure with micron as the unit, in order to produce products with excellent performance, the reaction conditions and precision control of production equipment have extremely high requirements. Especially in the research and development of high-performance products, domestic equipment manufacturers often cannot ensure the product performance after mass production.

At present, the introduction of aluminum-plastic film enterprises in Japan and South Korea has long been the norm, and the difficulty of process control is reflected in the cents. Industry insiders said that domestic equipment manufacturers should settle down in research and development, conquer the technological highland as soon as possible, and get rid of the industry deformity that Japan and South Korea are king, so as to promote the continuous development of the industry.

Supply side of industrial chain

At present, in the domestic market, whether it is digital or power companies, there are certain product concerns when choosing domestic aluminum-plastic films. The reasons are not only concerns about product performance, but also affected by long-term usage habits. If you want to eliminate the concerns of buyers and cultivate the habits of users, you need to advance the service and technology simultaneously.

TCL technology research and development manager Liu Rongjiang pointed out that the key point of the localization of aluminum plastic film needs to break through is to get rid of the state of dependence on imports and carry out technological innovation from the inside. At this point, aluminum-plastic film companies need upstream and downstream companies to work together and cooperate, while domestic battery companies should not stifle the enthusiasm of domestic aluminum-plastic film companies.

The rapid growth of market demand can not change the industry reputation of poor performance of domestic aluminum plastic film.

Under the background of the global market, a large amount of social resources have been invested to make the domestic aluminum-plastic film catch up with the expected technology later. However, the user's usage habits can not be changed overnight, and good brands and reputation can not be established in a short period of time. The major aluminum-plastic film enterprises should not only work hard on technological upgrading, but also can not ignore the role of marketing.

Industry development trend by leaps and bounds

However, compared with imported aluminum plastic film, domestic aluminum plastic film advantage is also very obvious.

Wu Huan, sales director of Daoming Optics, pointed out: "Domestic aluminum-plastic film has five major advantages: first, the cost-effective advantage, the domestic price and the import price maintain a gap of more than 20%-30%; The second is performance guarantee, and the key performance indicators have reached or even exceeded the level of imported brands. Third, flexible sales strategies, more direct market development channels and more flexible trading methods. Fourth, perfect after-sales service, sufficient supply, timely delivery, more comprehensive and fast technical services; five is a good after-sales protection, dare to take risks, eliminate customer concerns."

For domestic aluminum plastic film, although the road ahead may face multiple difficulties, but this does not hinder the enthusiasm and determination of enterprise layout. At present, the domestic battery enterprises to domestic aluminum plastic film cognition and acceptance attitude is developing positive change, many domestic digital battery enterprises have begun to batch application of domestic aluminum plastic film.

In the field of power, although it still takes time for large-scale applications, it is gratifying that some domestic mainstream companies have also begun to test domestic aluminum-plastic films.

For example, Fosu Technology laid out aluminum-plastic films as early as 2008, and its products have been gradually accepted by the market after years of independent research and development. Suda Huicheng has actively introduced advanced technology and equipment and trained technical personnel, and the competitive advantage of its products has obviously been mass produced. Xinlun Technology Acquired Japanese Enterprises and Completed the Complete Set of Technology Transplant Through Capital; TD Optics, relying on its own technical background, came from behind to enter the mass production.

With the gradual maturity of major enterprises in the production formula, process, equipment, manufacturing and other aspects, the stability, appearance consistency, electrolyte corrosion resistance and other properties of domestic aluminum-plastic film products continue to strengthen. This year, the market share of domestic aluminum plastic film is expected to reach 10%.

Wu Huan pointed out that with the continuous improvement of domestic aluminum-plastic film in product performance and production capacity, the next three years will have a certain impact on the price of imported aluminum-plastic film with the increase of domestic aluminum-plastic film.

According to the forecast of relevant agencies, the cost of power batteries will drop by 40% in 2020, while the proportion of aluminum-plastic film in the cost of soft-pack batteries will reach 15-20%. At the same time, the state's subsidies for new energy vehicles will also be fully withdrawn in 2020. Domestic lithium battery manufacturers are facing huge cost pressures, and there is an urgent need to reduce the cost of lithium battery raw materials. Therefore, the demand for import substitution and localization of aluminum-plastic film has become increasingly prominent.

The development of technology is a process of continuous breakthrough and innovation. Wang Tao, Miaosheng Power Test Manager, said that there is still a certain gap between the performance of domestic aluminum-plastic films and imported products at this stage, but he always believes that the performance and quality of domestic aluminum-plastic films will get better and better, and the replacement of imported products will eventually be completed.

Professional organizations estimate that the cumulative market size of aluminum-plastic film during the 13th Five-Year Plan period is about 36 billion yuan. At present, domestic aluminum-plastic film is mainly concentrated in the digital field, and the market share in the power battery field is very small. The huge market alternative space is not only an opportunity for aluminum-plastic film enterprises, but also an opportunity for the entire battery industry.