Growth for carbon fiber composites market

A joint study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Munich, Germany, and the VDMA Forum Composite Technology, Frankfurt, Germany, predicts a bright future for high-strength carbon fiber components, a market projected to grow 17 percent per year until 2020. Demand for lightweight, high strength composites in the automotive, aeronautics and wind energy industries will fuel some of this growth. Other factors include the potential for a 40-percent decrease in carbon fiber composite production costs, especially if German engineering firms can develop better resin transfer molding and compression molding equipment. The prices of the fiber could decrease as well, as much as 20 percent by 2020. The study, “Series production of high-strength fiber composite components—prospects for German engineering,” was presented at the COMPOSITES EUROPE trade fair in October and can be downloaded free of charge.