Promising markets for reinforced plastics

Reinforced plastics are proving to be a foremost aspect of contemporary lifestyles. With applications ranging from simple household appliances to complex industrial, aerospace and defense applications, reinforced plastics are the material of choice for various applications, owing to their superior performance, characteristics and design technologies, over their traditional metal counterparts.
 According to a comprehensive reinforced plastics report issued by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the global market for reinforced plastics will grow to 7.9 million tonnes by the year 2017, fostered by demand from European and Asia Pacific markets.
The field of reinforced plastics is constantly being researched to generate innovative products in sports, recreation, and medical care sectors. Renewable energy markets such as wind energy are emerging as the most promising markets for reinforced plastics. Within the reinforced plastics market, glass, carbon and natural reinforcing fibres constantly compete with each other. Due to the high performance attributes, carbon fibre plastics (CFRP) are substituting glass reinforced plastic (GRP), despite carbon fibres being priced higher than glass fibres. At the same time natural fibre plastics such as wood plastic composites (WPC) are expanding into newer applications such as automobile interiors and consumer goods. WPCs enjoy a significant presence in the North American market, whilst the European WPC market is still in the initial stage of development.
Rising consciousness about depleting fossil fuel resources and mounting environmental concerns are driving the demand for wind turbines, which in turn is significantly fueling reinforced plastics demand. The ongoing renewable energy initiatives are expected to favour the wind turbines market, which signals a bright future for composites/reinforced plastics market. Strongest gains in the wind energy market are anticipated in Germany, Spain, Italy and Denmark. North America seems to be on an environment conservation drive, with the regulatory bodies insisting upon alternate energy sources such as wind power, mainly to combat hazardous emissions from conventional fossil fuels such as oil and coal.
The composite industry has a reason to rejoice with market opportunities pouring in due to a burgeoning wind turbine market. Efforts are on cards to equip the wind turbines with innovative components featuring composite materials, which are mainly aimed at enhancing performance and efficiency.
According to the report, Europe dominates the global market in terms of sheer market size. France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK account for the maximum share of GFRP (glass fibre reinforced plastics) production volume in the region. The GFRPs volumes in Europe rose substantially in the recent term, resurging from the recessionary lows, as reflected in the increased uptake of feedstock including resins and glass fibers.
Worldwide, reinforced plastics are gaining increasing patronage from the turbo-charged construction industry which constitutes a major chunk of the overall market. Designed to render long-lasting, load-bearing structural performance, reinforced plastics are proving to be the ideal choice in complex structures such as bridges, bridge components and structural framing systems. The transportation sector is one of the largest end-use markets for reinforced plastics. A potential alternative to steel in the manufacture of body panels and structural components, reinforced plaNike Air Max 270