Researchers Pursue Lower Carbon Fiber Costs

Making a component of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) can reduce its weight compared to aluminum or steel by 33% and 50%, respectively. But CFRP can cost as much as 17 times as much as aluminum and 45 times more than steel, notes SAE Engineering Online.

But a detailed analysis by Boston-based Lux Research Inc. predicts that overall demand for CRFP will jump anyway. It says the global market for such material is likely to surge to $36 billion by 2020 from $14.6 billion last year.

Demand, especially within the auto industry, will be heavily influenced by the cost of making the carbon fibers themselves, which accounts for about half the price of CRFP, Lux senior analyst Ross Kozarsky tells the newsletter.

High-grade carbon fibers are made by heating, stretching and carbonizing polyacrylonitrile (PAN) resin. But Kozarsky says the conversion process is only 50% efficient, and the resulting PAN fibers before they are molded into plastic parts cost about $21.50/kg.

Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and elsewhere are pursuing cheaper raw materials and new fiber-making processes. Kozarsky says that combining the two approaches should slash fiber costs at pilot-line volume to less than $11/kg by 2017.