Chris Surbrook, April 2018
Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), is a very strong and light weight plastic. Similar to glass-reinforced plastic, these fibers are used to increase the strength and stiffness of the polymer into which they are incorporated. The resulting materials provide tensile and modulus values comparable to aluminum with about half the weight. Because of these mechanical properties, the materials have many applications in aerospace, automotive, bicycles, and sailboats where balancing strength and stiffness with density are important. They are also becoming increasingly common in small consumer goods as well, such as laptop computers, golf clubs, and musical instruments.
The following chart shows the prediction for overall carbon fiber demand and supply through 2020. Demand will outstrip supply by the end of that period, which likely will prompt additional expansion from carbon fiber suppliers, perhaps in the 2018-2019 timeframe. Through 2024, the data also anticipate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in carbon fiber demand of 9.21%. Currently, the aerospace industry is the largest consumer of carbon fiber reinforced materials where the carbon fiber is most commonly used to reinforce thermoset plastics. The thermosetting resins used are primarily vinyl epoxy and polyester. The carbon fiber is typically woven or aligned and then saturated with uncured resins which generates a material referred to as pre-preg. The pre-preg materials are then catalyzed and cured into parts. Due to the rigorous demands of aerospace applications, typical work in process scrap rates for raw materials are approximately 30%. It is estimated that the aerospace industry will scrap almost 9,000 tonnes annually by 2020, and that approximately 3,400 tonnes of that scrap will be comprised of carbon fiber. An article in Composites World titled “Carbon Fiber Reclamation: Going Commercial”2, Carl Ulrich, Managing Director of Allstreams LLC (McLean, VA) explained, “Carbon fiber recycling is an attractive market niche because it's driven not just by the financials, but also by recent government incentives, and by the desire for manufacturers to have green manufacturing processes and products.” Carbon fiber recycling not only prevents the waste of virgin carbon fiber in landfills after its first use, but components produced using the recycled fiber are themselves recyclable, because carbon can retain a significant portion of its virgin properties even after a second reclamation. Further, the recycling process itself significantly reduces energy costs. Boeing estimates that carbon fiber can be recycled at approximately 70 percent of the cost to produce virgin fiber ($8/lb to $12/lb vs. $15/lb to $30/lb), using less than 5 percent of the electricity required (1.3 to 4.5 kWH/lb vs. 25 to 75 kWH/lb).