Structural Core Materials Market Size, Share, Trend, and Forecast Analysis (2019-2024)

Structural Core Materials Market: Highlights

Structural core materials market is projected to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years to reach US$ 749 million in 2024. 

Market Drivers

The market is driven by a number of factors, some of which are:

• increasing demand for longer yet lightweight wind turbine blades,
• growing offshore wind energy installations,
• increasing production rates of the next-generation aircraft programs,
• ongoing recovery of the recreational fiberglass boat sales, and
• excellent performance of sandwich composites

Rising penetration of Composites Pushing the Demand for Core Materials

Composites have been witnessing an impressive growth in most of the end-use industries such as aerospace, transportation, and marine. Even, the penetration of composites has been the highest among all the materials in some of the major applications such as wind turbine blades and boat hulls. The impact of this trend is visible in the demand for core materials, as these materials have proven to be a game changer in developing composite applications that are lighter in weight with good strength.

Broadly, the composite industry stakeholders bifurcate the structural core materials into the three distinct materials: honeycomb, foam and balsa. All these materials compete with each other in some of the applications; however, they do not compete in most of the applications. Honeycomb is not part of our study as the material dynamics as well as competitive landscapes are entirely different than foam and balsa core providers.

Structural core materials are employed where parts must exhibit high bending strength and stiffness but at the same time need to be light in weight. The core must withstand shear stress and compression as it supports and stabilizes the skin sheets so that they stay fixed in place relative to one another and do not deform.

Structural Core Materials Market Share by Material Type

The market is segmented based on the core material type as PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride), PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), SAN (Styrene Acrylonitrile), PMI (Polymethacrylimide), Balsa, and Others. PVC foam core is likely to maintain its dominance in the market over the next five years, owing to its numerous benefits, such as cost-effectiveness with excellent durability, long-life expectancy, good electrical and insulation properties. Moreover, the material is self-extinguishing and will not rot and also, it is resistant to many solvents, including styrene and most fuels.

PET is another most commonly used foam material in the composites industry. It will continue to replace PVC, SAN, and balsa in almost all the major applications, owing to its advantages such as recyclability and reduction in the resin uptake, which significantly results in the reduction of total weight and cost of the infused core materials. PET is likely to witness the highest growth in the market over the next five years.

Structural Core Materials Market Share by End-Use Industry

Based on end-use industry, the structural core materials market is segmented into Wind Energy, Marine, Ground Transportation, Aerospace & Defense, and Others. Wind energy is projected to remain the largest market for structural core materials in the coming five years. Past five years for new wind turbine installations were vigorous as the total wind turbine installations reached at 51.3 GW in 2018 from 36.0 GW in 2013. However, the installation of wind turbines were ebb and flow whose impact can easily be recorded in the sales of core materials used to manufacture key composite applications, especially the rotor blades. Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) anticipates that over 300 GW (317.4 GW) of new wind energy capacity will be added during 2019 to 2023 out of which approximately 40 GW capacity will be offshore and rest will be onshore.

Aerospace & defense is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR over the next five years, driven by an incessant replacement of traditional metals with the advanced composites. All the latest aircraft programs (B787 and A350XWB) contain composite materials making up to almost 50% of their total airframe weight. This leads to a greater demand for materials including structural core materials. Honeycomb is the most preferred core material in the industry, which is not considered in the scope of the study.

Regional Analysis

Based on regions, Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest market for structural core materials during the forecast period, driven by China. China is the largest wind turbine market in the world, alone accounting for 86.0% and 44.8% share in the regional and the global new wind turbine capacity addition in 2018, respectively. GWEC anticipates that approximately 122 GW of new wind turbines are likely to be installed in the country during 2019-2023. Asia-Pacific is also estimated to depict the highest growth during the same period, driven by China, India, and Japan. All these three countries would remain the growth engines of the region’s market for structural core material over the next five years. 

Key Players

The structural core materials market has been flourishing for the last three decades and is expected to maintain its growth momentum in the coming years too. It is of paramount importance for the major players to align themselves with the changing market needs and competitive landscapes.

Some of the key structural core material manufacturing companies are

• 3A Composites (Schweiter Technologies AG)
• DIAB International AB (Ratos AB)
• Gurit Holding AG, Armacell International S.A.
• Evonik Industries AG, Maricell S.r.l.
• Changzhou Tiansheng New Materials Co., Ltd.
• SABIC
• BASF SE
• CoreLite Composites
• Baoding Meiwo Science & Technology Development Co., Ltd.

Research Methodology

This report offers high-quality insights and is the outcome of detailed research methodology comprising extensive secondary research, rigorous primary interviews with industry stakeholders and validation and triangulation with Stratview Research’s internal database and statistical tools. More than 700 authenticated secondary sources, such as company annual reports, fact book, press release, journals, investor presentation, white papers, patents, and articles, have been leveraged to gather the data. We conducted more than 15 detailed primary interviews with the market players across the value chain in all four regions and industry experts to obtain both qualitative and quantitative insights.

Report Features

This report, from Stratview Research, provides a comprehensive analysis that reflects today’s structural core materials market realities and future market possibilities for the forecast period of 2019 to 2024. The report segments and analyzes the market in the most detailed manner in order to provide a panoramic view of the market. The vital data/information provided in the report can play a crucial role for the market participants as well as investors in the identification of the low-hanging fruits available in the market as well as to formulate the growth strategies. 

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights into the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

• Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis
• Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter’s five forces analysis, SWOT analysis
• Market trend and forecast analysis
• Market segment trend and forecast
• Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, Product portfolio, New product launches, etc.
• Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities
• Emerging trends
• Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players
• Key success factors 

Market Segmentation

The market is segmented into the following categories:

Structural Core Materials Market, By Core Material Type

• PVC (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PET (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• SAN (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• PMI (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Balsa (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Others (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Structural Core Materials Market, By End-Use Industry

• Wind Energy (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Marine (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Ground Transportation (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Aerospace & Defense (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)
• Others (Regional Analysis: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW)

Structural Core Materials Market, By Region

• North America (Country Analysis: The USA, Canada, Mexico)
• Europe (Country Analysis: France, Germany, the UK, Russia and Rest of Europe)
• Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China, Japan, India, and Rest of Asia-Pacific)
• Rest of the World (Sub-Region Analysis: Latin America, the Middle East, and Others) 

Report Customization Options

With this detailed report, Stratview Research offers one of the following free customization options to our respectable clients:

Company Profiling

• Detailed profiling of additional market players (up to 3 players)
• SWOT analysis of key players (up to 3 players)

Market Segmentation

• Current market segmentation of any one of the end-use industries by core material type

Competitive Benchmarking

• Benchmarking of key players on the following parameters: Product portfolio, geographical reach, regional presence, and strategic alliances 

Custom Research: Stratview Research offers custom research services across sectors. In case of any custom research requirement related to market assessment, competitive benchmarking, sourcing and procurement, target screening, and others, please send your inquiry at [email protected]