Ann R. Thryft

September 1, 2016

1 Min Read
6 New Composite Techs for Cars and Planes

Aircraft and automotive applications continue to lead applications for composites product development, as well as a lot of the effort for making processes, especially carbon fiber composite production, simpler and cheaper for manufacturing higher volumes. This batch of new composite products and technologies includes several based on natural fibers, as well as some made with novel materials and processes.

The worldwide carbon fiber and carbon fiber-reinforced plastic market is projected to reach $35.75 billion US by 2020, with a compound average growth rate of 9.9% between 2015 and 2020, according to a recent RnRMarketResearch study. This report finds that automotive is the fastest growing application for these composites. The most common automotive components incorporating carbon fiber composites are exterior body parts, hoods, and test plates. North America is the fastest-growing market for carbon fiber composites in both dollar value and volume, dominated by the US. The reasons are a high economic growth rate, increasing manufacturing industries and carbon fiber composites patents, new product developments, expansions in capacity, and new plants being established by leading suppliers.

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Ann R. Thryft is senior technical editor, materials & assembly, for Design News. She's been writing about manufacturing- and electronics-related technologies for 29 years, covering manufacturing materials & processes, alternative energy, and robotics. In the past, she's also written about machine vision and all kinds of communications.

About the Author(s)

Ann R. Thryft

Ann R. Thryft has written about manufacturing- and electronics-related technologies for Design News, EE Times, Test & Measurement World, EDN, RTC Magazine, COTS Journal, Nikkei Electronics Asia, Computer Design, and Electronic Buyers' News (EBN). She's introduced readers to several emerging trends: industrial cybersecurity for operational technology, industrial-strength metals 3D printing, RFID, software-defined radio, early mobile phone architectures, open network server and switch/router architectures, and set-top box system design. At EBN Ann won two independently judged Editorial Excellence awards for Best Technology Feature. She holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University and a Certified Business Communicator certificate from the Business Marketing Association (formerly B/PAA).

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