Strong Fibers Save Energy: Ceresana Analyzes the Global Market for Composites (CFRP and GFRP)

Expansion of wind energy, revolutionization of the automotive market by introduction of electric mobility or modernization of the aircraft fleet: the future needs lightweight yet high-performing materials. The market research institute Ceresana analyzed the market for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) and glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP). These composite materials provide an excellent ratio of weight and carrying capacity; they ensure the reduction of weight of components - and thus also the saving of energy. „The global market for CFRP and GFRP will increase to a volume of over 9.98 million tonnes by 2024“, forecasts Oliver Kutsch, CEO of Ceresana.

Long Rotor Blades Harvest More Wind Energy

In November 2016 the climate summit of Marrakech confirmed: Without a considerable reduction of the CO2 emission during energy supply, an effective climate protection can hardly be reached. More and more countries invest massively in the expansion of wind energy. Wind turbines become increasingly larger and more efficient. An increased use of CFRP allows for increasingly longer rotor blades. However, cost thereby is rising disproportionately which sets limits for the growth potential of the plants from a financial point of view. In any case, the number of installed wind turbines is rising further in most countries. The market for GFRP benefits from this development as well since they are also applied in the production of rotor blades.

Lightweight Construction Spurs on Airplane Manufacturers

Large amounts of composites are utilized in the aerospace industry. The new models by Airbus and Boeing, the two largest airplane manufacturers worldwide, have a considerably higher share of composites than older models. CFRP are mainly utilized in fuselages and wings, e.g. in the Boeing 777, Boeing 787 (Dreamliner) or the Airbus A350 and Airbus A380. Additional important airplane manufacturers like Bombardier (Canada) or Embraer (Brazil) ensure an increasing demand for reinforced plastics at their production sites. The Chinese manufacturer COMAC has announced the maiden flight of its C919 for the first quarter of 2017. The production of the over 550 pre-orders can finally begin now with a delay of several years.

Heavy Batteries Need Light Car Bodies

Lightweight construction will play a major role in the context of e-mobility in the automotive sector in the upcoming years: Heavy materials such as steel, other metals or engineering plastics are increasingly replaced by composites with lower weight. In the segment of series production of cars, GFRP are currently preliminarily used. CFRP parts are still too expensive most of the time, and at the same time, a fit processing technology is still missing which would be suitable for the standardization and production speed. A promising processing technology in the automotive industry is Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), a resin injection process. In this process, preforms made of continuous fibers are prefabricated; afterwards, the resin is injected into them in a press form. After curing, the finished component is ready for processing. With this process, shortened cycle times of only a few minutes can be reached already today.

The study in brief:

Chapter 1 provides an analysis of the global market for composites, including forecasts up to 2024. Data on demand and revenues are analyzed for the six regions Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa.
Chapter 2 provides market data for the 16 most important countries, that is, country-specific information on demand for CFRP and GFRP and revenues. Additionally, demand is split by several application areas in detail.
Chapter 3 demonstrates the regional distribution of the demand in the particular application areas. The segments wind energy, automotive, sports & leisure, aerospace, construction industry, electrical & electronics, and the category other applications are examined.
In chapter 4demand for and revenues generated with CFRP and GFRP are analyzed, split by the individual countries.
Chapter 5 provides profiles of the largest manufacturers in the composite sector – clearly arranged according to contact details, turnover, profit, product range, production sites, and profile summary. Extensive profiles of 72 manufacturers are given, e.g. Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A., Formosa Plastics Group, General Electric Company, Hanwha Group, Honeywell International Inc, Owens Corning, PPG Industries Inc., Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), Toray Industries Inc., and Teijin Ltd.

Further information: www.ceresana.com/en/market-studies/plastics/composites/

Ceresana is an internationally leading market research and consulting company for the industry. For 15 years, Ceresana has been supplying several thousand customers from 60 countries with up-to-date market intelligence. Extensive market knowledge creates new prospects for strategic and operational decisions. Ceresana's clients profit from implementation-oriented consulting services, tailor-made single-client studies and more than 100 independent multi-client market studies. Ceresana's analysts are experts on the following markets: chemicals, plastics, industrial goods, and packaging.
Learn more about Ceresana at www.ceresana.com/en

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Press Contact: Martin Ebner, m.ebner@ceresana.com

This release was published on openPR.