Metal Matrix Composites: The Global Market

This BCC Research report provides a detailed and comprehensive study of the global market for metal matrix composites (MMCs) as well as potential business opportunities in the future. Forecast provided through 2020.

Use this report to:

Investigate future prospects for metal matrix composites (MMCs) in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America and the rest of the world (ROW).
Analyze technology developments, market conditions and opportunities, and five-year forecasts.
Explore new market opportunities for reinforced metals and alloys that have more recently entered into commercial production.
Examine ultimate end-use markets: ground transportation, aircraft industry, space an defense systems, nuclear energy, and consumer electronics.

Highlights

The global metal matrix composites market should reach $431.1 million by 2020 from $326.9 million in 2015 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% from 2015 to 2020.
The ground transportation market should reach $203.2 million by 2020 from $156.9 million in 2015, at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2015 to 2020.
The space research and defense systems market should reach $52.5 million by 2020 from $37.6 million in 2015, at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2015 to 2020.

STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of this report is to provide a detailed and comprehensive multi-client study of the global market for metal matrix composites (MMCs) as well as potential business opportunities in the future. This report’s objectives include a thorough coverage of the underlying business issues driving the MMC market, as well as assessments of new and potential products that companies are developing. Social, political, and other issues are also covered, as are international markets. This technology/marketing report starts with an overview of MMCs, including a history of MMC development and the overall composites marketplace.

The report then moves on to processing technology trends and secondary processing and fabrication methods before proceeding to a detailed assessment of markets and product applications in ground transportation, electronics, commercial and defense aerospace, industrial and defense, and recreational equipment. This assesses the market growth, materials, production, status of commercial development, barriers to entry, and market leaders. A comprehensive analysis of the industry structure is provided and ends with profiles of the leading MMC companies.

REASONS FOR DOING THE STUDY

It has been several years since BCC Research’s last technical market study on MMCs. There was a flurry of activity at that time with research institutions expanding frontiers of the current knowledge, new business ventures, increasing interest on the part of larger, more established companies, and over 20 years experience with the technology in defense and niche commercial applications.

While the military aerospace market remains an important target for MMCs, opportunities have emerged in other industries. The push for better fuel economy and lighter vehicles has opened the door to expanded usage of MMCs in automobiles. Increasing performance in microprocessors has resulted in heat-generating challenges, which have elicited increasing interest in thermal management applications for MMCs. In addition, companies in the business are working to create new market opportunities for their composite products in industries that 20 years ago had never even heard of MMCs

As a small yet strategic global market, MMCs are a critical and essential element in many advanced technologies. The present state of the MMC business, however, is changing. A global recession and September 11 particularly affected commercial aerospace and other end-use markets for MMCs, and led to a diminished demand. At the same time, new entrants and expansions by existing producers resulted in additional capacity. In turn, this led to lower operating rates for many producers, and a more competitive market, and pricing pressures. These “drivers” will continue.

Use of MMCs has recovered and in the long term will continue to expand, as a result of technological advancements, both in the area of new methods for producing MMCs, as well as in evaluating MMCs various applications. With the rapid changes in the industry structure and in the accelerated rise of new and expanding applications, a technology/marketing report update with a unified view of materials and applications is needed.

In addition, realistic market data (including time series) for MMCs have proven elusive, especially on a global basis. Because product innovation is important, the industry is relatively secretive, with no central reporting organization as is found in the plastic resins and textile fibers. A paucity of company information also exists as many companies either are small privately held organizations, or if part of a larger company, represent a relatively small part of the operations and are usually integrated into the final product organization. The technical data are dependent on the accuracy of the manufacturers and technical sources that helped to make up the BCC Research database.