Topic of the month September

Glass Fiber – Opinion on the evolution of the worldwide reinforcement market

In 2002, the worldwide glass fiber market for composites reinforcement was 2.2 million tons. Its average growth over the last 7 years (1996-2002) was 4.2%. The market peaked in 2000 and then experienced a severe downturn in 2001, followed by a progressive improvement in 2002. These cycles are inherent to the glass fiber market, similarly to many other semi-finished product markets, and do not affect the fundamentals of the activity that remain very sound, at roughly twice the GDP of the industrialized countries.

The development of the composites market is based on two pillars - innovation and materials substitution:

Replacing other materials (and also associating with other materials) to enable lighter weights, energy savings, more integrated functions or more design freedom.



In the geographic terms, a balance has been reached between the three major zones: 33% in North America, 32% in Europe and 30% in Asia. The dynamics are however in favor of Asia, which is experiencing average growth rates of 7%, while Europe is only at 4% and North America at 2%.


This phenomenon is linked to 3 factors:

With very strong growth, such as China 15%, very attractive thanks to its huge potential market and its cost competitiveness.

In terms of processes, we should note the stronger growth of thermoplastic resin compounding compared with thermoset transformation processes. This is a constant in the three zones.
It should also be noted that the open mould processes still cover 19% of the world market.
They have lost the most ground in Europe over the last few years, but remain strong in North America, thanks to the size of the marine sector.

As for final applications, it is the transport and CPW (Construction/Public Works) markets that dominate in the European and American zones (North and South). The latter has the particularly of having a marine market that is much more developed than two other zones.

Conversely, the electronic markets have regressed in Europe and North America over the last few years and moved to the Asian zone, where this sector currently represents one third of the market.

On the other hand, the modest size of the transport sector in Asia must be noted since it explains the relative weakness of thermoplastic resin compounding processes. This Asian transport sector is therefore one of the prime areas for composite development in the years to come.
Glass reinforcements are used according to many moulding processes:

From a market point of view, they can be grouped together according to the series moulded, or the resins used, or the type or shape of the final part.



It appears difficult to produce precise worldwide statistics about their use: in fact, according to the geographical area and the development of glass reinforcement uses, differences exist but the the following distribution can be drawn up:


In the field of thermosetting resins: