Composites, the wonder material with lightweight, high strength to-weight ratio and high stiffness have come a long way in replacing conventional materials like metals, wood etc. Composites offer significant advantages over metals in many structural applications due to the flexibility of selecting various combinations of fibrous reinforcement and resin matrix. Due to their light weight coupled with high strength, composites can replace wooden & metallic parts in transportation (automotive & railways), contributing to energy savings.
Composites bestowed with unique advantages, as mentioned earlier, drew attention from the developed world towards novel applications. The consumption of composites increased manifold in the last two decades, in industrial & consumer applications.
Driven by strong economic growth and urbanisation across emerging markets, demand for advanced composites is expected to continue growing at a rapid rate. In 2017, global composites production expanded by nearly 10% to reach 12 million metric tons with the Asia Pacific region accounting for 42% of the total production volume, driven mainly by unprecedented market growth in China and India. According to the annual survey of the composites market conducted by JEC, Asian production is projected to make up 46% of the global composites manufacturing output by 2021.