Composites Demand to Exceed $10 Billion

U.S. demand for high performance composites, polymer materials containing advanced fiber reinforcements, is forecast to rise almost 15% per year to $10.2 billion in 2016. Advances will represent a considerable improvement over the 2006-2011 period, during which composite demand was hampered by declines in military and sporting goods applications. Going forward, high performance composite demand will be fueled by tremendous growth in the commercial airliner market as well as emerging opportunities in applications such as wind turbines and pressure vessels. However, the high cost and labor-intensive production of advanced composites compared to competitive materials will prevent these materials from penetrating high volume and price-sensitive markets. These and other trends are presented in High Performance Composites, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc.

Aerospace markets will remain the leading outlet for high performance composites in 2016 and will be by far the fastest-growing. While composites have long been used in military aircraft and helicopters, they are beginning to penetrate the commercial airliner segment on a large scale as well. The production ramp up of the Boeing 787 DREAMLINER will drive the bulk of the increases in high performance composite demand. Another strong area of growth is the burgeoning wind energy market. Much slower growth is expected for defense and safety applications and the highly mature sporting goods market. The motor vehicle market, which holds perhaps the greatest potential for high performance composites, will see only moderate gains in demand, as widescale, large-volume use of automotive composites will continue to be restrained by high cost and slow production speeds.

Among product types, carbon fiber composites will continue to account for the largest portion of demand, totaling 83% of the high performance market in 2016. Carbon fiber composites will benefit from robust growth in the aerospace market as well as their versatility, good balance of mechanical properties, and moderate cost compared with other high performance composites. S-glass fiber composites -- the least costly of all advanced composites -- will also see double-digit gains in demand, fueled by opportunities in aerospace, wind energy, and pressure vessel markets. More moderate advances are forecast for composites based on aramid and other fibers, restrained by the slower-growing defense and safety composites market.

For more information, contact Corinne Gangloff, The Freedonia Group, Inc., 767 Beta Drive, Cleveland, OH 44143, 440-684-9600, Fax: 440-646-0484, E-mail: pr@freedoniagroup.com, Web: www.freedoniagroup.com.