Tooling Board Market

Global Tooling Board Market: Overview

Increasing demand for better and precise prototypes from various industry verticals such as automotive, aerospace, defense, and marine is resulting in increased uptake of products in the global tooling board market. The plastic tooling boards have steadily replaced the conventional metal and wood boards owing to their versatility and host of beneficial characteristics. These plastic tooling boards in the global tooling board market have provided consumers with products featuring longer lifespan that can act as a perfect substitute for metal or wooden master models, fixtures, patterns, jigs, prototype modeling, and molds. Products in the global tooling board market feature numerous advantages over the wood and metal boards such as temperature resistance, easy bonding, high dimensional stability, easy surface finishing, and larger block availability.

Rise in the governmental spending on aerospace and defense industry by various countries around the world and constant evolution of automotive technologies has created a host of attractive opportunities for the participants in the global tooling board market. Rising research and development expenditure aimed at developing next generation and technologically sound electric vehicles has created a huge demand for prototype models in automotive sector. This trend is anticipated to fuel the demand in global tooling board market in coming years. Another major motivator for the global tooling board market includes the product’s quality of enhancing efficiency and reducing cost of various industrial processes.

Tooling boards or modelling boards are material boards used to make master models and prototype tools. Plastic tooling has replaced metal, wood, and other traditional materials in the industrial tooling sector due to the improved efficiency, faster ramp rate, and reduction in overall cost for many industrial processes provided by the former. Epoxy resins are high-molecular-weight polymers that usually contain at least two epoxide groups. Tooling boards are employed in many industrial tooling applications to manufacture molds, models and master models, laminates, fixtures, castings, and other industrial production aids. These boards offer better machinability, i.e. they can be easily cut, adhesively bonded, and shaped with conventional hand tools or automated machining equipment, in shorter lead time. They are machined at a faster rate and are available at affordable prices.

Tooling Board Market: Drivers and Restraints

The need for low manufacturing costs and augmented production rate in various industries such as automotive, marine , and aerospace has been a major driver of the global tooling market due to its impeccable material properties and low cost. The unique property of epoxy or polyurethane tooling board to offer reduced autoclave curing time required for manufacturing advanced composites parts and molds, particularly in the aerospace industry, is also driving the market. However, development of mined mineral composites can be a major restraint of the epoxy or polyurethane tooling board market.

Tooling Board Market: Segmentation

Based on material type, the tooling board market can be segmented into:

• Polyurethane
• Epoxy resins
• Others (Unsaturated resin, etc.)

Epoxy tooling boards have high plasticity, strength, and toughness compared to other materials. The usage of epoxy material lessens the machining cycle time, reduces production cost, and improves productivity. Polyurethane tooling boards offer competitive performance compared to epoxy tooling boards. In addition to their exceptional properties, polyurethane tooling boards are cheaper than the epoxy tooling boards. Hence, tooling boards made from polyurethane hold majority of the market share followed by epoxy tooling boards.

Tooling Board Market: Segmentation

Based on application, the tooling board market can be segmented into:

• Styling
• Modelling
• Master and data control models
• Prepreg lay-up tools
• Jigs and fixtures
• Foundry patterns
• Hammer and sheet metal forming

Tooling boards are used for making models, prototypes, and durable and reusable tools. They are employed majorly in the automotive industry. Other industries using tooling board include aerospace & defense and wind energy. Tooling boards used for different applications are of different grades. The grades differ in density, size of the tooling board, and the overall geometry. Grades also depend upon the selection of construction techniques and materials for making tooling boards.

Tooling Board Market: Regional Outlook

Based on geography, the tooling board market can also be segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. In terms of region, major tooling board manufacturers and customers are situated in Europe, making it the largest market for tooling boards. Tooling boards are being used to develop prototypes for Formula One race cars, motorsport vehicles, and aerospace applications. Growth in the transportation industry is a significant driving factor for tooling boards in North America and Asia Pacific. The tooling board market does not account for large share of Middle East & Africa.

Tooling Board Market: Key Market Players

Key players operating in the tooling board market are:

• Huntsman Advanced Materials
• Goldenwest Manufacturing Inc.
• General Plastics Mfg. Co.
• Coastal Enterprises Co.