Structural Core Materials Market Analysis | 2024-2030

“The Structural Core Materials Market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% over the next six years to reach US$ 1.2 billion in 2030”.

Market Dynamics

Introduction

Core materials refer to the central component of sandwich construction. The well-known core materials used in sandwich construction are honeycomb, foam, and balsa. These core materials absorb the shear forces generated by out-of-plane loads, distributing between the skins and spreading them over a larger area while maintaining the skins at a fixed distance.

The core’s function is to support the skins so that they do not deform inwardly or outwardly to keep them in a relative position to each other. The core materials can be made of a variety of materials such as wood, aluminum, and a variety of foams. This study comprises only foam core and balsa core and completely excludes all kinds of honeycomb core materials.

COVID-19 Impact

The impact of the pandemic varied from industry to industry. For instance, the pandemic largely uninfluenced wind energy and ground transportation, whereas the aerospace & defense, and marine markets witnessed a deep plunge in 2020. Overall, robust growth in wind turbine installations has offset the decline faced by the aerospace industry, marking an overall impressive growth in the core materials market in 2020.

While the industry was on its path to recovery from the pandemic in 2021, the continuous strain on the supply chains, skyrocketing raw material prices, and disruptions to business caused by measures to combat the pandemic had disrupted the market with the sharp decline in the wind turbine installations during the second half of the year and the temporary halt in deliveries of B787 aircraft program troubling the aerospace & defense industry in 2021. On the contrary, other major markets, such as marine, rebounded at an impressive rate after a ginormous decline in the year 2020.  The market has also suffered a decline in 2022, mainly due to lower wind turbine installations in North America, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World except Europe. However, the decline was partially offset by the healthy recovery in the other end-use industries of the market.

Recent Market JVs and Acquisitions:

1) In 2021, Diab acquired SABIC’s Ultem foam production lines.

2) In 2019, Gurit acquired a PET recycling operation from Valplastic S.r.l.

3) In 2019, PAI Partners and KIRKBI together acquired Armacell International S.A.

Segments Analysis

By Core Material Type

“PET foam core is likely to remain dominant in the market during the forecast period”.

The market is segmented into PVC, PET, SAN, PMI, Balsa, and Others. Among these core material types; PET foam core is likely to remain dominant in the market over the next six years, mainly driven by the exceptional growth in wind energy.

PET core is also anticipated to witness the fastest growth in the foreseen future, driven by an incessant replacement of PVC foam and SAN to PET foam core, especially in wind energy and transportation industries. All the leading players, such as Diab and Gurit, are setting up new PET lines to tap the growing market potential.

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By End-Use Industry Type

“Wind energy is expected to remain the biggest demand generator of core materials market during the forecast period”.

The market is segmented into wind energy, marine, ground transportation, aerospace & defense, and others. Wind energy is expected to remain the biggest demand generator of core materials over the next six years. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) anticipates that about 791 GW of new wind energy capacity will be added from 2024 to 2028, which is equivalent to more than 158 GW of wind energy added each year till 2028. The demand for longer wind blades is adding a further stir to the demand for structural core materials.

Aerospace & Defense, a relatively smaller segment compared to wind energy and marine, is likely to experience the fastest growth in the post-pandemic market developments. An expected recovery in the production rates of key commercial aircraft programs coupled with an incessant increase in the penetration of composite materials is likely to create a huge demand for core materials in the coming years.

Regional Analysis

“Asia-Pacific will continue as the largest market for structural core materials, with Europe as the second-largest during the forecast period”.

In terms of regions, Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest market for structural core materials during the forecast period. China is estimated to remain the largest market in the region as well as in the world, driven by rising wind turbine installations, increasing demand for recreational fiberglass boats, the opening of assembly plants of Boeing and Airbus, and increasing demand for high-speed trains.

Europe is expected to remain the second-largest market during the forecast period. The region is also expected to grow at the fastest pace in the market during the same period, due to an increasing focus of the EU on offshore wind turbine installations as well as healthy growth in the aerospace & defense industry.

The region is witnessing phenomenal changes in the usage of foam core materials across all the end-use industries with the incessant replacement of PVC foam and SAN to PET foam core. Armacell and Gurit are the leading suppliers of PET foam core materials, based in the region.

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Key Players

The market for structural core materials is consolidating as the major companies are performing mergers & acquisitions. Among many acquisitions performed in the market, the acquisition of the Allusuisse Group AG including the Airex division by Alcan in 2000, followed by the acquisition of Baltek in 2003 by Alcan Composites at an agreed price of US$ 35 million is still the most noticeable one. In 2010, Alcan Composites got renamed 3A Composites. This change follows the 2009 acquisition of Alcan by Schweiter Technologies.  Furthermore, in 2021, Diab agreed to acquire SABIC’s Ultem foam production lines and in 2019, PAI Partners and KIRKBI together acquired Armacell.

The supply chain of this market comprises several nodes including raw material suppliers, structure core material manufacturers, sandwich panel suppliers, tier players, OEMs, and end-users.

The following are the key players in the Structural Core Materials Market (arranged alphabetically)

• 3A Composites GmbH (Schweiter Technologies AG)
• Armacell International S.A.
• Changzhou Tiansheng New Materials Co. Ltd. (China)
• Diab International AB
• Evonik Industries AG
• Gurit Holdings AG
• Maricell S.r.l.

Note: The above list does not necessarily include all the top players in the market.

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Report Features

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Research Methodology

• This strategic assessment 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.
• The report segments and analyzes the market in the most detailed manner 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 to expedite their growth process.
• This report offers high-quality insights and is the outcome of a 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 1,000 authenticated secondary sources, such as company annual reports, fact books, press releases, journals, investor presentations, 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.

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