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February 21.22 The Roosevelt Hotel New York, NY USA To receive more information and a copy of the full conference brochure, contact Ralph Jessie at: COMPOSITESWORLD Conferences |
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Objective
This international conference is designed for executives from leading composites industry suppliers, industry analysts, investment bankers and industry end users. Participants will explore the global and regional outlook for composite materials in commercial aviation, other transportation, sporting goods, wind energy, construction and infrastructure, CNG and hydrogen storage tanks and marine and automotive applications. Discussions will focus on the economic forces that impact these markets, such as high energy costs and global warming, and how composites companies can profit from these forces and increase market share over traditional materials like steel, aluminum and concrete. Presentations will include supply and demand forecasts, cost models for carbon and glass fiber plants and how investment in advanced automation production processes are helping composite materials penetrate markets dominated by other materials. Industry participants will be identified. Overview presentations will help define their industry position. The emphasis will be on continuous fiber-reinforced composite materials, rather than short glass fiber and so-called long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics (LFRT).
Overview
Unlike traditional structural materials, such as wood, concrete, steel and aluminum, composites encompass a relatively young group of technologies that possess seemingly endless potential for application in almost all major end uses from construction to automotive and, of course, aerospace. With an annual volume of around 7 million metric tonnes (MT), the global market for all fiber-reinforced plastic composites (FRP), including fiberglass (GFRP), carbon (CFRP) and aramid (AFRP) is miniscule compared with cement at 23,350.0 million MT and steel at 1,500 million MT. Historically, growth in the composites market has averaged around 8 per cent per year, but this is increasing dramatically, primarily because of sharp increases in the use of CFRP in the commercial aviation industry, principally by Boeing and Airbus on the B787, A380 and A350 XWB aircraft.
In its most classic definition, a composite material is one that joins two or more materials together to produce a compound with properties that exceed those exhibited by any of its individual components. This broad definition could include paper (wood fiber, minerals and binders), adobe (clay mud and straw), PVC pipe (polyvinyl chloride plastic and calcium carbonate filler) and even paint (polymer binder, pigments, fillers and other additives). However, the term composite, today, usually describes a compound that combines an engineered fiber with a polymer resin, ceramic or metal matrix.
As the cost of energy increases and composite design and manufacturing processes become more automated, FRPs are becoming more economically feasible in advanced structural applications, such as aircraft, where they are already attractive because of their light weight, high specific strength (tensile strength/weight) and excellent corrosion resistance. These same economic forces also are driving growth in other markets, such as renewable/alternative energy, especially wind energy and compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen storage containers.
Wind energy, in particular, presents a great opportunity for composites. Germany has the most installed wind capacity, with over 27 percent of the global market, primarily because of a series of wind energy programs begun in 1989. China presents the largest growth opportunity for wind energy. Capacity in China increased 70 percent in 2006 because of the implementation of the country's 2006 Renewable Energy Law. That growth rate is likely to accelerate in 2007. India and Spain are providing additional demand for wind energy. Suzlon, India's largest manufacturer has become the fifth largest manufacturer in the world and continues to develop and penetrate the Asian wind energy market. GE is the U.S. market leader. Vestas and Gamesa are the top two global manufacturers. Because of the on/off nature of US government incentives, all of the major overseas wind energy companies have been able to invest in the US market, mainly by acquisitions.
While carbon fiber is seen as the "sexy" material that receives the most press coverage, GFRPs, with a volume of around 6 million MT, have the lion's share of the total composite market; especially in construction, other transportation and wind energy applications. Sometimes viewed as a "low-tech" material compared to carbon or aramid fiber-reinforced polymers, GFRP has been the principal beneficiary of some of the new automated consolidation techniques, particularly vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM), which is transforming the boatbuilding industry from a messy, labor-intensive business that exposes workers and the environment to excessive levels of HAPs/VOCs, to a low-emission, automated business with increased production rates. There are also opportunities for specialty fiberglasses, such as corrosion resistant e-glass and s-glass in ballistic armor applications.
Nevertheless, carbon fiber is seen as the FRP material with the greatest potential for growth given the economic forces currently in play. It also continues in a state of short supply as the industry awaits implemetation of recently announced fiber production capacity expansions worldwide. Nevertheless, dramatic growth anticipated over the next 10 years presents a huge opportunity for all competitors within the industry.
Composite manufacturers and suppliers are reading long term trends and positioning themselves differently. For example, in the carbon fiber industry, companies like Toray, Hexcel or Cytec are more vertically integrated, producing fiber, prepreg, adhesives and other materials. Zoltek, on the other hand, concentrates on fiber production. Some companies, like Cytec, have historically focused on the aerospace industry. Zoltek focuses on industrial applications for carbon fiber. Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures have been increasing in the resin and fiberglass industries and also have begun to occur with greater regularity on the on the CFRP side of the business.
The following topics of discussion are planned:
I. General Composite Market Overview and Forecast:
- Market size and competitive materials (the place of composites in the structural materials market)
- Composites market distribution by application
- Regional outlook (Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America)
- Growth, supply, demand, pricing of carbon fiber composites
- Growth, supply, demand, pricing of glass and aramid fiber composites
II. New Developments in High-Growth Composite Markets and End Uses:
- Commercial aviation, defense and aerospace applications (competition with light metals)
- Automotive applications (body components, driveshafts, frames, steering columns, friction applications, etc.)
- Other transportation (boats, railcars, trucks, buses)
- Infrastructure/Construction: bridges, marine, other corrosion-resistant construction applications applications (sewer pipes,rebar, cable)
- Wind energy (turbine blades, turbine nacelles, towers)
- Other energy and energy storage (CNG, LNG, and hydrogen storage; flywheels, and compositereinforced electric conductor cabling)
- Sporting goods (golf clubs, tennis rackets, bicycles, skis, snowboards, archery, hockey sticks, etc.)
- Electronics (printed circuit boards, computers, printers, copiers, etc.)
- Oil & gas (offshore oil platforms and fixtures, tubular components for deepwater exploration)
III. Production Methods and Consolidation Techniques to Reduce Costs:
- Prepreg, towpreg, automated fiber placement, filament winding and automated tape laying processes
- Impact of advancements in resin technology (thermoset vs. thermoplastic)
- Impact of autoclave vs. out-of-autoclave processes in the advanced composite applications
- Impact of resin transfer molding (RTM), vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) and thermoplastic prepregs on major glass and carbon fiber markets (marine, wind blades, large structural composites)
- Hybrid fabrics and preforms
- 3-D weaving, stitch-bonded fabrics
IV. Composite Materials vs. Traditional Materials: Impact of Energy Prices, Carbon Footprints* and Safety Considerations
- Material production cost comparisons: carbon fiber vs. traditional materials
- Material production cost comparisons: Glass fiber vs. traditional materials
- Comparative carbon footprints for different applications using different materials
- Recycling considerations
- Safety: composite materials vs. traditional materials (damage tolerance, fire resistance, fatigue and corrosion)
- Repair: Composites vs. traditional materials
Sources: Composites Wordwide, the late Steve Loud Global Wind Energy Council *Total amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product or service.
