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Home cooks who like to easily slide eggs out of the pan know the non-stick properties of Teflon. But the application of Teflon goes far beyond cookware. The growth of multiple industries is driving the global demand for this material.

Teflon is the brand name of Chemours (Wilmington, DE) polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The material has solvent resistance and flame retardancy, high melting point, strength and non-stick properties well known to home cooks. A 2016 report by Zion Research (Pune, India) predicted that the global PTFE market was valued at US$4 billion in 2014 and will grow to US$6.5 billion by 2020.

According to Zion, as consumers buy more electronic products that use this material, the demand for PTFE is rising. In 2014, the Asia-Pacific region was the largest market for this material, followed by Europe. In addition to electronic products, PTFE also exists in auto parts, chemical processing, textiles and medical products.

Bruce Nesbitt, founder and chairman of Orion Technologies, a Chicago-based Teflon coatings applier, said that the medical use of PTFE is booming. PTFE can be coated with a variety of materials, and its versatility makes it useful for many medical devices. Nesbitt said that PTFE is increasingly appearing on products with handles or accessories that can help clinicians operate the equipment. Devices that use PTFE include dental drills, guide wires that guide the device through the body, and medical tubing.

"Any two components that slide together, such as metal tubes and plastic housings, can benefit from the Teflon coating on one or both of the sliding surfaces," Nesbitt said.  

The growing medical applications of PTFE led Orion to spin off an independent company called Surface Solutions Group. The company can apply medical-grade coatings to further reduce friction and add antibacterial agents to meet the sterility requirements of medical device manufacturers. Nesbitt said that the more critical the end use, such as applications in aircraft and medical equipment, the stricter the testing requirements.

"So far, medical treatment is the most stringent," he said. "Military and aircraft are a bit behind... the car is quickly driving the rear."

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