The biggest obstacles standing in the way of ubiquitous use of carbon fiber in carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRPs) are cost and processing efficiency. Lux Research (Boston), a firm providing strategic advice and intelligence on emerging technologies, has released a report, “Carbon Fiber Composites Market Update,” that addresses these and other issues.
Innovations aimed at reducing carbon-fiber cost and improving composite processing efficiency combined with continued global scale-up are driving increased adoption of CFRPs. As higher volumes enter the market, CFRP recycling is increasingly important not only for environmental and economic benefit, but also to avoid upfront landfill costs and to meet stringent automotive regulations in recyclability.
In 2016, the global CFRP market was greater than 60,000 million tons and is expected to grow to 183,000 million tons, or $35 billion, in 2020. However, only a small amount of the scrap produced per year is recycled, and more than $400 million of CFRP ended up in landfills in 2015.