Ceramic coatings market to reach US$1.9 billion by 2020

BCC Research has revealed in its new report that high performance ceramic coatings constitute a mature but still expanding industry with a broad list of current and potential applications, continuously emerging coating techniques and a growing list of material compositions. Surface modification using ceramic coatings has achieved an important place in the industrial environment during the past twenty years. Ceramic coatings constitute a large family of materials with quite diverse compositions and properties. They include compositions based on alumina, alumina-magnesia, chromia, hafnia, silica, silicon carbide, titania and zirconia. Ceramic coatings generally are applied to metal or metallic alloy components, as well as to ceramic components.

High performance ceramic coatings are a special class of ceramics because of their form and the preparation techniques required. However, their uses are diverse, and they exploit a wide range of unique and desirable properties of various bulk ceramics. Ceramic coatings are generally used for wear, or erosion, corrosion, and high temperature resistant applications. All ceramic coatings deliver some level of performance in each of the three major areas listed above.

The North American market for high performance ceramic coatings totalled nearly US$1.3 billion in 2015 and should reach US$1.9 billion in 2020, reflecting a five year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8%. Thermal spray coatings, the fastest growing segment with a five year CAGR of 8.6%, should grow from US$695.4 million in 2015 to US$1 billion in 2020. Physical vapour deposition (PVD) as a segment should grow from US$260.4 million in 2015 to US$377.1 million in 2020, with a five year CAGR of 7.7%.

Thermal spray coatings, which captured 53.1% of the 2014 market, should increase its market share dominance to 55.2% by 2020. PVD accounted for the second largest share of the market (19.9%), which could decrease slightly to 19.8% by 2020. Meanwhile, the share of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is projected to decrease to 16.2% from 19.4% during the same period. Other coating technologies (e.g., spraying/dipping, sol-gel and micro-oxidation techniques) are predicted to gain in market share, to 8.8% in 2020 from 7.6% in 2014.

"The promise of performance improvement is the main force driving the continued development and commercialisation of high performance ceramic coatings," says BCC Research analyst Andrew McWilliams. "These coatings are typically applied to cast iron, steel, super alloys, titanium alloys, tungsten carbides, carbon/carbon composites and even ceramics. Use of ceramic coatings enables metals to be used for several applications for which they would otherwise be unsuitable."

Adapted from press release by Francesca Brindle

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