Carbon Fiber Prepreg Market

Updated on : August 22, 2024

Carbon Fiber Prepreg Market

The global carbon fiber prepreg market was valued at USD 9.7 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 18.9 billion by 2027, growing at 14.2% cagr from 2022 to 2027. The market is growing due to its increasing demand from aerospace & defense, automotive, and wind energy industries. Growing wind turbine installations and increasing aircraft production is fueling the demand for carbon fiber prepregs across the globe.

Impact of COVID-19 on global carbon fiber prepreg market

In 2020, more than 80% of automobile production was halted owing to COVID-19 in North America. The aerospace & defense industry also experienced a very bad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe and Asia Pacific witnessed a similar situation of slowdown for various markets. Big manufacturing companies such as Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Honda, and Tesla stopped their production temporarily. Even though these companies resumed production after the pandemic-induced lockdown, the economic instability and reduction in the purchasing power of consumers are expected to have an adverse effect on the transportation industry for a certain period. Carbon fiber prepreg manufacturing companies are struggling to continue production after shutting down the production plants in most countries in 2020. There was a decrease in consumer demand in markets, especially in the US, China, and Japan.

Driver: Growing demand from wind energy industry to drive the demand for carbon fiber prepregs

The use of carbon fiber prepregs helps to reduce overall weight, optimizes the stiffness-to-weight ratio in the longer wind blades. Carbon fiber prepregs also helps to increase the stiffness that prevents tower strikes in the sudden wind gusts. It is necessary to reduce the weight of wind turbines in order to control and reduce cyclical compression regulations. The CAGR for offshore wind during the next five years is around 31%. The annual installations are expected to quadruple by 2025. This growth in the wind energy industry is expected to fuel the demand for carbon fiber prepregs.

Restraint: High processing and manufacturing cost is a major restrain for the carbon fiber prepreg market

The applications of carbon fiber prepreg have been increasing dramatically in many industries such as aerospace, wind, automotive, and so on. At present, composites in the form of carbon fiber prepreg contribute to over 50% of the structural mass of large transport airplanes. However, further use of carbon fiber prepreg has been restricted because of the high material and manufacturing costs. Hence, it is necessary to use cost estimation tools in the early design stages to reduce the cost of carbon fiber prepreg products.

In the automotive industry, it is mainly used in sports and racing cars due to its high cost. For instance, the cost of aerospace-grade polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber is around USD 21/kg compared to the cost of steel and aluminum at USD 0.33/kg and USD 1.50/kg, respectively. The high cost of manufacturing carbon fiber prepreg is limiting its use in end-use industries. This is acting as a restraint to the growth of the market. However, the average cost of carbon fiber prepreg is expected to get lower and may be used for the mass production of mainstream vehicles. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), located in the US, is aggressively working to develop low-cost carbon fiber (LCCF) technologies.

Opportunity: Development of advanced software tools for carbon fiber prepreg product development is an opportunity for the carbon fiber prepreg market to grow

Many advanced carbon fiber prepreg software tools are being developed to automate the engineering process and reduce the design cycle time of carbon fiber prepreg. These tools can identify and solve problems incurred during the manufacturing and designing stages of carbon fiber prepreg. They also help in building cost-modeling analysis, thereby reducing manufacturing and assembly costs and meeting the production volumes of targeted industries. Thus, the adoption of these software tools would provide the opportunity for automation and would help in increasing the penetration of carbon fiber prepreg in various applications.
 

Challenge: High cost of research and development

High R&D cost has been an important concern associated with the growth of the carbon fiber prepreg market. Many applications of carbon fiber prepreg have been discovered. However, due to the high R&D cost, commercialization of these applications is yet to begin. Developing low-cost technologies is a major challenge for all researchers and key manufacturers. Hence, carbon fiber prepreg is only introduced in high-end and luxury cars. Production of low-cost carbon fiber prepreg can increase the demand from different end-use sectors.

Solvent dip manufacturing process accounted for the second highest market share in the carbon fiber prepreg market, in terms of value.

Solvent dip process offers main advantage of providing high performance level. This process can be designed for producing carbon fiber prepregs for having applications in extreme environmental conditions that includes intense heat. Hot melt process accounts for the largest market share in carbon fiber prepreg market.
 

Polyimide resin type accounted for the second highest market share in the carbon fiber prepreg market, in terms of value.

Polyimide resins are getting widely getting used due to their good chemical resistance, thermal stability, high tensile strength, and excellent mechanical properties. This resin is priced higher than phenolic, epoxy, thermoplastic, and BMI hence accounts for significant market share in terms of value.
 

Europe held the largest market share in the carbon fiber prepreg market

The carbon fiber prepreg industry in Europe is a significant part of the region’s economy. This region is segmented into France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, Austria, and the Rest of Europe. In this region, carbon fiber prepreg is largely used in automotive, aerospace & defense, and wind energy industries. The aerospace industry accounts for the maximum market share due to the presence of a large aerospace industry in France and the UK.
 

Carbon Fiber Prepreg Market Players

The key players in the global carbon fiber prepreg market are:

• Mitsubishi Chemical Carbon Fiber and Composites, Inc. (Japan)

• Solvay (Belgium)

• Teijin Limited (Japan)

• Toray Industries Inc. (Japan)

• Hexcel Corporation (US),

• Gurit Holding AG (Switzerland)

• SGL Carbon (Germany)

• Park Aerospace Corp. (US)

• Axiom Materials, Inc. (US)

• Others

These companies are involved in adopting various inorganic and organic strategies to increase their foothold in the carbon fiber prepreg industry. The study includes an in-depth competitive analysis of these key players in the carbon fiber prepreg market, with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies.

Read More: Carbon Fiber Prepreg Companies

Recent Developments in Carbon Fiber Prepreg Market Industry

• In September 2022, Solvay introduced LTM 350, a next-generation carbon fiber epoxy prepreg tooling material designed to deliver significant time and cost savings for the industrial, aerospace, automotive, and racing car markets. The carbon fiber epoxy tooling material offers an industry-leading fast, low-temperature cure cycle (3 hours at 60°C) and can also be cured at temperatures as low as 45°C with an extended post-cure. Tools built from LTM 350 can be continuously cycled at temperatures up to 150°C delivering highly accurate composite parts.
• In June 2022, Hexcel Corporation was awarded a long-term contract by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, to supply advanced composite structures for the CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter program. The agreement significantly expands Hexcel composite content in the aircraft.
• In May 2022, Toray Composite Materials America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it entered into a collaborative arrangement with Bell Textron Inc. to support a new National Center for Advanced Materials Performance (NCAMP) design allowable dataset for Toray’s 3960 prepreg material system. This prepreg system utilizes Toray’s T1100 intermediate modulus plus (IM+) fibers, providing high toughness and exceptional tensile performance ideal for aerospace applications.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

To speak to our analyst for a discussion on the above findings, click Speak to Analyst