The rise of medical-grade ethyl silicone oil has given rise to a new competitive landscape due to industry differentiation


1. The market's dual differentiation has seen high-end sectors become growth engines
The domestic ethyl silicone oil market is showing a significant structural differentiation trend, and the contradiction between overcapacity of mid-to-low-end products and insufficient supply of high-end products continues to be prominent. Data shows that the overall domestic market size of ethyl silicone oil reached 1.81 billion yuan in 2024. Among them, high-purity and special functional products contributed over 60% of the profits, while the operating rate of general-purpose products only remained at 52%. Especially in the medical-grade sector, the process of domestic substitution has accelerated. The import dependence has dropped from 78% in 2020 to 51% in 2024, becoming the core driving force for industry growth and promoting the overall market to maintain an average annual compound growth rate of 9.7%.


2. Technological breakthroughs have achieved results, and medical-grade products have met international standards
The breakthrough of medical-grade ethyl silicone oil stems from the systematic upgrade of the production process. By adopting the integrated technology of continuous polymerization and ultra-clean impurity removal, domestic enterprises have successfully controlled the metal impurity content of their products below 10ppb, fully meeting the purity requirements of implantable medical devices. In terms of key performance indicators, this type of product not only achieves stable operation within a wide temperature range from -40℃ to 150℃, but also has passed the biocompatibility test. It can effectively support skin regeneration and moisture retention in wound healing care. At present, low-hydrogen grade, high-purity medical ethyl silicone oil has accounted for 15% of the industry's R&D investment, and related products have been applied in batches in scenarios such as wound dressings and medical catheter lubrication.


3. The expansion of application scenarios and the blooming of demands in multiple fields
Apart from the medical field, the application boundaries of ethyl silicone oil are continuously extending towards high-end manufacturing. In the field of flexible electronics, customized ethyl silicone oil is used as the packaging material, enabling foldable screen phones to withstand over 400,000 bends while maintaining a light transmittance of more than 92%. In the field of new energy vehicles, the battery potting compound with high-viscosity ethyl silicone oil has extended the thermal runaway protection time to 30 minutes and achieved a 100% pass rate in the needle-puncture test. In the personal care sector, its gentle and skin-friendly properties have led to a 22% year-on-year increase in its usage rate in skin care products for sensitive skin, making it one of the core raw materials to replace traditional oils.


4. Policies for upgrading and accelerating the industrial chain facilitate high-quality development
The rapid development of the industry cannot be separated from the dual impetus of the improvement of the industrial chain and policy support. In the upstream sector, leading enterprises have achieved full-chain control from ethyl chlorosilane monomer to finished products through vertical integration layout, reducing the impact of raw material cost fluctuations by more than 30%. At the policy level, the National Key Research and Development Program has included medical-grade silicone materials within its support scope, and the revised version of the "National Standard for Silicone Products" has further clarified the performance indicators of medical-grade products. It is expected that by 2030, the market size of medical-grade ethyl silicone oil alone will exceed 800 million yuan. Coupled with the demand from fields such as electronics and new energy, the overall market is expected to reach a scale of 3.5 billion yuan. The industry will gradually shift from scale expansion to quality improvement.