Composite materials refer to materials composed of two or more materials with different properties, which are formed by physical or chemical methods at the macroscopic (microscopic) level to exhibit new properties. Various materials complement each other's strengths and weaknesses in performance, creating a synergistic effect that enables composite materials to have better comprehensive performance than the original constituent materials and meet various different requirements. The upstream of the composite material products industry mainly includes industries such as glass fiber and resin, while the downstream mainly includes industries such as wind power, automobiles, engineering machinery, and yachts. At present, the global composite material market value and production have steadily increased in recent years.

The production capacity of the composite materials industry continues to improve

Stimulated by the demand for composite materials in the Asia Pacific region, the global production capacity planning for composite materials has accelerated, and the production capacity of composite materials continues to improve, driving the continuous growth of industry output. In 2017, the global output value of composite materials was approximately 86.7 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.73%.

Looking at different regions, in 2017, the composite material production value in North America accounted for 30% of the global output value; Chinese Mainland accounts for 25%; Europe accounts for 20%. Composite products in North America are mainly used in aerospace, transportation and other fields, with high added value and large market scale. Relatively speaking, although the output of composite materials in Chinese Mainland is high, the output value is low, and the application field is low. Future development needs industrial restructuring.

Global demand for composite materials

In recent years, under the influence of the global economic downturn and other major environmental factors, the structure of the global composite materials market is gradually changing. Developed countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, and Europe have relatively saturated composite materials markets with slow growth rates. Due to the long-term per capita consumption level of composite materials, the Asia Pacific region has a large market demand space and a fast growth rate. As a result, it has promoted the stable growth of the composite materials industry as a whole. Data shows that in 2017, the global composite materials market reached around 30.4 billion US dollars, and the market size of composite end products reached around 86.4 billion US dollars, of which the market size of high-performance composite end products was about 25 billion US dollars.

Global demand structure for composite materials

From a global perspective, currently the main composite materials in the world are glass fiber composite materials and carbon fiber composite materials, which together account for over 90% of the entire composite material market size. Therefore, the following mainly focuses on the downstream demand structure of glass fiber composite materials and carbon fiber composite materials.

1. Structure of demand for glass fiber composite materials

Fiberglass has excellent properties such as lightweight, high strength, high and low temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, thermal insulation, flame retardancy, sound absorption, electrical insulation, and a certain degree of designability. Therefore, it has achieved large-scale applications in transportation, construction, electronic appliances, pipelines, chemical industry, environmental protection, and national defense and military industry.

In the global fiberglass consumption market, the main application areas of fiberglass are concentrated in construction, transportation, industrial applications, electronics and electrical, new energy and other fields, accounting for 32%, 28%, 21%, 11% and 8% respectively.

2. Demand structure of carbon fiber composite materials

At present, the aerospace industry is one of the main application areas of carbon fiber, mainly due to its lightweight and high-strength properties. Compared to steel or aluminum, carbon fiber can achieve a weight reduction effect of 20% to 40%. In the aerospace industry, it is mainly used as a structural material for aircraft (accounting for about 30% of the aircraft weight). Therefore, overall, the use of carbon fiber can reduce the weight of aircraft by 6% to 12%, significantly reducing the fuel cost of aircraft. In the aerospace field, carbon fiber was first used in the manufacturing of antennas and satellite supports for artificial satellites. Due to its heat and fatigue resistance, carbon fiber has also been widely used in solid rocket engine casings and nozzles.

In addition to the aerospace industry, carbon fiber composite materials are also widely used in sports goods, wind power industry, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, electronics and electrical fields. From the perspective of demand proportion, the current demand scales of the aerospace, sports goods, wind power industry, and automobile manufacturing industries are 48%, 13%, 12%, and 8%, respectively. Other application areas account for 5% or less.

In summary, currently, the supply and demand of the global composite materials industry are basically balanced. From a regional perspective, North America has the highest output value and high-end industrial structure in the composite industry, while Chinese Mainland has a higher output value but a lower industrial structure. From the perspective of application fields, glass fiber composite materials are widely used in construction, transportation, and industrial applications, while carbon fiber composite materials are widely used in aerospace, sports and leisure, and wind turbine blade fields.