JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #51 - September 2009 - 18

BUSINESS Market survey Carbon fibre: investing cautiously The carbon-fibre manufacturers who were investing heavily over the past three years to meet high market demand are now applying moderate investment strategies. t the moment, demand in the composite market is slower than expected in sectors like aerospace, industrial applications and sports & leisure, and 2009 is turning out to be a year where the supply of carbon fibre is greater than demand for it. This situation is likely to continue another year or two, until the world economy picks up. The shortages, at least, are over. A more than 24K (24K = 24,000 filaments). Small/regular tow HS (HT)/IM/HM carbon fibre The purpose of the present article is to provide an overview of production capacities, taking into account that some previously announced investments have already been or will be postponed. We would like to thank the carbon-fibre suppliers (fewer than usual this year) who answered JEC Composites Magazine’s questions. Thanks to their input, we were able to establish a July 2009 summary. All figures given in metric tons are for dry fibre, exclusive of resin. PAN or pitch precursor Two processes (including preoxidation, carbonization, graphitization and surface treatment steps) can be used to obtain endless carbon fibre with a high carbon content (over 97%): - production of PAN-based carbon fibre from a multifilament PAN (polyacrylonitrile) precursor, - production of pitch-based carbon fibre from a pitch precursor (coal tar or oil tar). “Small tow” versus “large tow” In terms of number of filaments, there are two distinct families: “small tow” (or “regular tow”) fibre at 24K filaments or less, and “large tow” (or “heavy tow”) at Assuming a 14,000-metric ton (MT) increase in capacity between 2008 and 2010, nameplate capacity should reach 64,000 MT in Centrifuge tubes in a cascade (USEC uranium 2010. With a 32% enrichment program), share, Toray is © Hexcel. positioned as a leader. Toho Tenax holds a 21% share and Mitsubishi Rayon, a 16% share. Both have production facilities in Japan, Europe and the USA. As shown in Table 2, the three Japanese groups (Toray, Toho Tenax and Mitsubishi Rayon) account Table 1: HS/IM/HM carbon fibres. for 69% of global Carbon Fiber Tensile modu- Tensile strength small-tow Designation lus GPa MPa production, whereas the two High Strength (Tenacity) HS (HT) 200-250 3,300-4,800 American groups Intermediate Modulus IM 280-300 4,000-5,800 (Cytec High Modulus HM 400-600 3,800-4,500 Engineered Materials and Hexcel) account for 14% and Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group, for 14%. Worldwide capacity Two new carbon suppliers attended the Carbon-fibre production capacity can be JEC Show in 2008 and 2009: Dalian expressed as “nameplate capacity” – Xingke Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd (China) which corresponds to the maximum and AKSA (Turkey). theoretical capacity – or as “output” or “mix load” capacity, i.e. the actual All of these groups produce their own capacity to produce a full range of yarns PAN precursor, thus ensuring quality, (1K, 3K, 6K, 12K, etc.) with a 100% continuity, and production-cost control. activity rate. The latter figure is the most relevant when it comes to calculating Large tow (above 24K) supply and demand. Zoltek and SGL Group are still holding a As far as mechanical performance is concerned, there are three main families (Table 1): - The HT (HS) family is by far the largest one (85%). Associated with a high number of filaments (12K, 24K, 48K, etc.), HT (HS) yarns are the most competitive, price wise. - The IM family offers a good compromise in terms of mechanical properties. These materials are used for structural parts in commercial airplanes. - The HM family is best suited to applications where rigidity is the determining criterion, such as satellites, yacht masts or Formula 1 chassis. 18 jec composites magazine / No51 September 2009

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #51 - September 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #51 - September 2009