CF & CFRP Market Insights, Trends, Opportunity & Forecast (Includes Business Impact of COVID-19)

Carbon fibers are extensively used globally due to their superior properties like high chemical resistance, low weight & warm extension, compound resistance & rigidity and high stiffness.

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer or carbon fiber reinforced plastic, or carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic, is an extremely strong blended, light, and tough fiber-fortified plastic which contains carbon fibers. These offer exceptional properties, such as stiffness, strength, tenacity, density, thermal & electrical conductivity, fatigue, and corrosion resistance. CFRPs can be expensive to produce but are commonly used wherever high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness are needed, such as, automotive, civil engineering, sports equipment, aerospace, superstructures of ships and various other applications.

This market due to the superior performance properties of CF & CFRP and their ability to survive in harsh condition is expected to bolster growth at a healthy CAGR in the coming years.

MARKET DRIVERS:

The growth of this market is attributed towards major pertaining factors including: the increase in the demand for high-performance materials with high strength-to-weight ratio, good tensile strength, and electrical conductivity, the increasing use of carbon fiber composite materials in the aerospace industry, the rise in demand for lightweight vehicles so as to achieve fuel efficiency and production of electricity, the growing focus on renewable energy sources, exponential reduction in cost of carbon fibers, the growing demand for better performing products in the defense industry and the increasing focus on production of electricity from renewable source etc.

The binding polymer is usually a thermoset resin such as epoxy, but other thermoset or thermoplastic polymers, such as polyester, vinyl ester, or nylon, are variably used. The properties of the final CFRP product can be affected by the type of additives introduced to the binding matrix.

Moreover, the automotive segment is expected to lead the market due to the growing need of light weight, safe and cost-effective vehicles worldwide.

However, high cost of carbon fiber composites, insufficient production capacities, decrease in the number of commercial aircraft deliveries, liquidity crunch due to the slowdown in the aerospace industry are factors that hamper and hinder the growth of this market.

Also, the global pandemic disease COVID-19 has forced the composite component manufacturers to shut down their operations partially and temporarily, which is expected to decrease the demand for CF & CFRP in 2020.

CF & CFRP MARKET SEGMENTATION:

By Source:

• Virgin
• Recycled

By End-use Industry:

• Aerospace & Defense
• Wind Energy
• Automotive
• Sporting Goods
• Civil Engineering
• Pipe & Tank
• Marine
• Electrical & Electronics
• Medical
• Others

 By Raw Material Type:

• Pan-Based Carbon Fiber
• Small-Tow (<24k)
• Large-Tow (>24k)
• Pitch-Based Carbon Fiber
• Rayon-Based Carbon Fiber

By Resin Type:

• Thermosetting CFRP

• • Epoxy
  • Polyester
  • Vinyl Ester
  • Others

• Thermoplastic CFRP

• • Polypropylene
  • Polyethylene
  • Polyethylene Terephthalate
  • Others

By Manufacturing Process:

• Lay-Up Process
• Compression Molding Process
• Resin Transfer Molding Process
• Filament Winding Process
• Injection Molding Process
• Pultrusion Process
• Others

By Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa

REGIONAL INSIGHT:

Europe accounted for the largest market share in the CFRP market due to high demand from aerospace & defense, industries in offshore wind energy installations. However, major countries in the region including Spain, France, UK, Germany have been worst affected by the ongoing pandemic which has resulted in aa major downfall in the overall market in the region.

APAC is projected to be the fastest-growing CF & CFRP market owing to the high demand for CF & CFRP from the wind energy, sporting goods, and aerospace industry in the region, the presence of established raw material suppliers, product manufacturers, and increasing new aircraft deliveries and wind energy installations in the region. The major contributors in the region include countries like India, China, and Japan etc. China is currently the world's largest wind energy installer, which drives enormous revenue in the region. With that said, the ongoing has also affected this region badly and negative effects can be witnessed by the end of 2020.

The North American region held a substantial share in this market in the last years and is expected to maintain its growth on a positively growing scale. This can be attributed to the growing demand for better performing products in the aerospace & defense industry, high economic growth rate ,ease of availability of raw materials for CFRP in constituent countries like United States and Canada, growing manufacturing industries, increasing carbon fiber composites patents, new product developments and increasing joint ventures and collaborations between players in the region etc.

FEW KEY PLAYERS IN CF & CFRP MARKET:

• Solvay
• Hyosung
• Formosa Plastic Corporation
• Dowaksa
• Kureha Corporation
• Toray Industries Inc
• Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings
• Hexcel Corporation
• Teijin Limited
• SGL Group
• Tencate
• Cytec
• Gurit
• Other Players

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

• In April 2020, California-based Arris Composites, a developer of continuous carbon fiber composites, secured $48.5m in Series B funding in order to continue its expansion in Southeast Asia and the US. Arris Composites reportedly raised a total of $58.5m in funding over two rounds of investment over the past few years.
• In September 2020, Nissan reportedly came up with a process to make carbon fibre more affordable. It currently aims to use the new process to mass produce CFRP parts and bring them into the market for more vehicles for more customers. Cutting lead time in development specifically, by as much as half, the new process also is said to cut cycle time for molding by nearly 80 percent as compared to the traditional methods.

Timeline Considered for Analysis:

- 2019: Base Year

- 2020 to 2025: Forecast Period

Research Scope and Deliverables

Overview & Executive Summary

Market Drivers, Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

Market Size and Forecast Projections

Macroeconomic Indicators of Various Countries Impacting the Growth of the Market

Extensive Coverage of Industry Players including Recent Product Launches and Market Activities

Porter’s Five Force Analysis

Market Segmentation Analysis:

Industry report analyzes the global CF & CFRP market by the following segments:

• Source
• End-use Industry
• Raw Material Type
• Resin Type
• Manufacturing Process

Customization: We also offers customization’s in the industry report as per the company’s specific needs.

Key Questions Answered in the Global CF & CFRP Industry Report

• What is the overall market size in 2019? What will be the market growth during the forecast period i.e. 2020-2025?
• Which region would have high demand for product in the upcoming years?
• What are the factors driving the growth of the market?
• Which sub-market will make the most significant contribution to the market?
• What are the market opportunities for existing and entry-level players?
• What are various long-term and short-term strategies adopted by the market players?