Total market demand for materials characterization instruments reached $2.18 billion in 2011 and is forecast to be $2.29 billion in 2012, representing growth of 5.2%. These instruments characterize the physical properties of a wide variety of materials. The different technology segments are organized by the specific kind of measurements being made or the specific sample types being analyzed.

The largest individual technology segment is physical testing, which comprises a number of technologies that measure the strength, hardness and durability of raw materials, finished components and products. One important market for physical testing is the automotive industry. New life in that market should help improve performance of this historically slow growth market for 2012. Growth for sales of physical testing instruments for this year is estimated at 4.6%.

The next largest product segment is thermal analysis, which has fairly broad applications, including those in pharmaceutical, polymer and food laboratories. These instruments measure various aspects of a sample’s response to carefully controlled thermal conditioning. Sales growth in this segment has been strong recently, but IBO forecasts a moderation of the near-term prospects, with sales growth estimated at 5.3% for 2012. Calorimetry covers similar applications, measuring heat flow in samples, and should have a similar growth rate for sales.

Particle characterization instrumentation makes up about 20% of the total materials characterization market and should post the fastest sales growth this year, though the forecast rate of 6.1% is not much greater than the category average. In addition to particle-size distribution instrumentation, this product segment includes a number of other techniques, such as zeta potential and chemisorption, which provide information on the behavior of particulate matter. These systems have important applications not only for pharmaceutical formulations, but also for a wide variety of consumer products, food items and construction materials. The broad nature of the customer base helps to support steady, continued growth.

The remaining technology segments, petroleum analyzers and viscometers, are both forecast to achieve growth of about 4%–5% in 2012. While petroleum analyzers are highly specific to the testing of oils and fuels, viscometers and rheometers have broader applications.

Although there are some interconnections among the techniques, the vendor situation is not very consolidated, with the top five vendors making up just 37% of the materials characterization market. TA Instruments, a Waters company, holds the top position in the market due to its dominance in thermal analysis and its high-end viscometry and rheometry businesses. The company also competes in the calorimetry market.

The remaining companies in the top five are all involved in the physical testing market. Although most of the top companies in physical testing compete exclusively in that segment, Shimadzu is much more broad based in its approach to materials characterization, with involvement in a majority of the individual markets. The other significant physical testing vendors are Instron, which is owned by Illinois Tool Works, MTS Systems and Zwick. MTS Systems has a particularly strong involvement in the automotive market and should experience stronger-than-average sales growth in 2012.

Other important materials characterization market participants include PerkinElmer, Spectris’s Malvern Instruments, Mettler-Toledo and Beckman Coulter, which was acquired by Danaher last year (see IBO 2/15/11).

 Pie Chart: 2011 Materials Characterization Instrumentation Suppliers’ Market Shares

 Waters       9%

 Shimadzu     8%

 ITW          8%

 MTS Systems  7%

 Zwick        5%

 Other       63%

 Bar Graph: 2010–2013 Total Materials Characterization Instrumentation Market

                2010     2011     2012     2013

 $ Millions    2,068    2,180    2,293    2,413

 Materials Characterization Instrumentation 2011–2012

                        2011 Market Share      2012 Growth Rate

 Physical Testing             28.7%                   4.6%

 Thermal Analysis             25.8%                   5.3%

 Particle Characterization    19.4%                   6.1%

 Viscometry, Rheometry        12.7%                   4.7%

 Calorimetry                   6.9%                   5.3%

 Petroleum Analyzers           6.5%                   4.9%

 Total                       100.0%                   5.2%

 Pie Chart: 2011 Materials Characterization Instrumentation Market by Product Type

 Initial Systems    68%

 Service            17%

 Aftermarket        15%

 Materials Characterization Instrumentation Market Leaders

 Physical Testing           Illinois Tool Works, MTS Systems

 Thermal Analysis           Waters, PerkinElmer

 Particle Characterization  Spectris, Danaher 

 Viscometry, Rheometry      Waters, Thermo Fisher Scientific

 Petroleum Analyzers        Roper Industries, Petrotest

 Calorimetry                Mettler-Toledo, GE