Tooling Board Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Polyurethane, Epoxy), By Applications (Aerospace & Defense, Automotive, Marine, Wind Energy), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025

Industry Insights

The global tooling board market size was worth USD 9,318.8 million in 2016. Globally, the market is highly dependent on the advancements and demand for prototypes in the transportation, construction & architecture, marine, wind energy, and other end-use industries. 

Tooling boards, also known as machinable slabs & modeling boards are typically made from PU & epoxies and exhibit very high dimensional stability along with low density. Generally, they replace wood & metal in prototype modeling, master models, molds, patterns, jigs, & fixtures.

U.S. tooling board market revenue by product, 2014 - 2025 (USD Million)

The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of epoxy & polyurethane boards are anticipated to be quite high, ease of machinability and relatively high strength makes the material suitable for many applications such as styling, foundry, and modeling in diverse in end-use industries such as aerospace & defense, and automotive.

Tooling boards offer low-cost benefits for small-scale developments in the public & private sectors, with similar characteristics that are to be integrated into the final product as well. Such PU foam provides an outstanding foundation for impressive graphics, environment-friendly displays, aircraft or automobile models, topographical maps, movie props, sculptures, and even amusement park façades among several other products.

The rise in demand for sustainable materials has also prompted manufacturers to adopt recyclable & renewable resources for its production, such as shaving from existing production processes and even newer bio-based composite materials. These factors, combined with growing government support would encourage domestic production in emerging economies, is expected to boost demand.

Product Insights

Polyurethane is the dominant product segment for tooling board and accounted for around 68% of the overall market segment in 2016. They are widely used in CNC-machined plugs and molds in the rapidly growing composites industry. CNC equipment permits the production of highly accurate molds. 

Molds which are made from PU remain dimensionally accurate in storage for years, because they are unaffected by moisture and do not shrink with time. Recently, the trend has been shifted toward lower density PU foam in order to improve economics.

Epoxy is used for prototyping applications owing to its unique combination of excellent surface finish and high temperature resistance. Increasing demand for the prototypes of formula one car and aircraft are the major factors to drive the tooling board market. They are designed to exhibit high strength, dimensionally stable board for tooling jigs, building precise patterns and models, and prepreg lay-up tools.

Another significant trend is the application of machinable epoxy-based pastes that allow the use of very low-density PU foam for the interior volume of a plug or mold. A foam core is covered with the tooling paste and cured to form an epoxy shell. It is then CNC machined to yield a durable, dense, high-temperature surface that withstands vacuum & duress.

Application Insights

The aerospace & defense sector emerged as the largest application for PU and epoxy boards on account of the growing demand for high-temperature resistant, affordable & dimensionally stable alternatives to conventionally expensive metal dies. The product is widely used for aircraft tooling and component production, with major companies such as Boeing & Airbus investing in renewable materials and integrates sustainability into their operations. 

These boards are ideal for prototype production, but they are also being utilized for vacuum forming, machining, prepreg composite layup tools, pattern making, high-temperature curing prepreg, and other limited-run tooling applications in the aerospace industry.

Global tooling board market volume by application, 2016 (%)

The automotive sector presents a fast-growing & lucrative application market owing to the rapid expansion of this sector in emerging economies. The rapid increase in consumer disposable income has also generated increased passenger car sales in countries such as Venezuela, Argentina, India, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Increasing R&D spending and growing interest in the development of technologically advanced cars with perfect streamlining, lower weight, higher fuel efficiency, and high performance in wind tunnel testing, have created a high demand for PU models and modeling prototypes.

Regional Insights

Europe was the leading tooling board regional segment and accounted for around 33% of the total revenue in 2016. The region is also highly regulated by numerous legislations & manufacturers are compelled to adhere to stringent processing guidelines in order to ensure the overall sustainability of the product. 

The Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing regional segment account of numerous macro-economic factors including burgeoning population, rising consumer disposable income, and other factors such as technological innovations that are promoting advanced composites & materials demand in the region.

Numerous manufacturers are also shifting their production bases to Asian countries in order to tap lucrative market opportunities and reduce the cost of production by employing skilled, but low-cost labor from the region.

Tooling Board Market Share Insights

Major Participants include Huntsman Corp., Axson Technologies, Coastal Enterprises, General Plastic Manufacturing Co., OBO-Werke GmbH & Co. KG, Trelleborg AG, Curbell Plastics Inc., Alro Steel Corp., Base Group, Sika AG, Alchemie Ltd., and RAMPF Holding GmbH & Co. KG. 

Curbell Plastics is a pioneer of this technology and has commercialized such a tooling board using polyols and an advanced thermal glycolysis process. Such innovations are expected to encourage other industry players to step up the production of environment-friendly products to meet regulatory specifications and transitioning consumer preferences.

New entrants in the market are anticipated to face challenges in light of high technology and volatile raw material cost. Existing industry players are engaged in extensive R&D activities to develop innovative yet cost-effective products that meet specific application requirements.

Report Scope

Segments Covered in the Report

This report forecasts revenue growth at global, regional & country levels and provides an analysis of the industry trends in each of the sub-segments from 2014 to 2025. For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global tooling board market on the basis of product, application, and region:

• Product Outlook (Volume, Thousand Sq. Feet; Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

  • Polyurethane (PU)

  • Epoxy

  • Others

• Application Outlook (Volume, Thousand Sq. Feet; Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

  • Aerospace & Defense

  • Automotive

  • Marine

  • Wind Energy

  • Others

• Regional Outlook (Volume, Thousand Sq. Feet; Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2025)

  • North America

    • The U.S.

    • Canada

    • Mexico

  • Europe

    • Germany

    • The U.K.

    • France

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • India

    • Japan

  • Central & South America

    • Brazil

  • Middle East & Africa

    • Saudi Arabia