Increasing Demand for Specialty Synthetic Fibers and Glass Fiber Market

The demand for lightweight, high strength and safer materials are growing in almost every industry. Specialty synthetic fibers (para and meta aramids, UHMW polyethylene, carbon fiber, partially oxidized polyacrylonitrile fiber, and others including PPS fiber, pbo fiber, and liquid crystal polymer fiber) and glass fiber exhibits high tensile strength, high temperature and chemical resistance, strength to weight ratio, and so on.

Specialty synthetic fibers are increasingly replacing traditional materials such as steel and metal in several applications to increase efficiency and durability, reduce weight, lower maintenance cost, and improve fuel economy in many applications. Huge potential of this market is drawing various new industry participants. The development in the specialty synthetic fibers will make its application more convenient in ballistic applications, aerospace & defense, automotive, wind energy, sporting goods, and other areas, thereby offering numerous advantages to the industry in which they are used.

The factors driving growth in the specialty synthetic fibers and glass fiber market are increase in demand for lightweight and fuel-efficient materials, advanced composites materials from end-user industries, increasing need for greater safety and security, increasing usage of advance materials in renewable energy market, growing demand from the transportation industry. The specialty synthetic fibers market is a highly developing market due to its enormous potential offered by these drives.

Specialty synthetic fibers and glass fiber manufacturers mainly focus on R&D in order to develop new and improved products, which offer more distinguished features thereby enhancing its application scope into the new market. Expansion into new and emerging markets such as Asia-Pacific, Brazil, and Middle East has been and will be the key for success for specialty synthetic fibers and glass fiber manufacturers if they intend to increase their overall sales and revenue. In 2012 within the para-aramids market, DuPont (U.S.) and Teijin Limited (Japan) together accounted for more than 80% of the market. The UHMW polyethylene market is dominated by top three players accounting for 70% of the market.

Specialty synthetic fibers manufacturers are constantly trying to develop their products line in order to increase their market share which in turn helps them to bag bulk supply contracts. This market is mainly dominated by few specialty synthetic fibers and glass fiber manufacturers in each specialty synthetic fibers type. Major players in this market are DuPont (U.S.), Teijin Limited (Japan), Toho Tenax (Japan), Toray Industries Inc. (Japan), Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd. (Japan), Royal DSM (the Netherlands), Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.), Owens Corning (U.S.), and Jushi Group (China).