Application field continues to expand, and fiberglass shows its talents

Glass fiber (referred to as fiberglass) is an inorganic non-metallic material, which has the advantages of light weight, high strength, high temperature resistance, and good electrical insulation performance. As an alternative material, glass fiber can replace traditional materials such as steel, aluminum, and wood in many fields. Let's take a look at the fiberglass industry today.

Glass fiber has excellent performance and has many application scenarios

Glass fiber has excellent performance and is widely used: Glass fiber is an inorganic non-metal composite fiber material with excellent performance. It has a series of advantages such as low cost, light weight, high strength, high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance. It is widely used in building materials, transportation, Electronic appliances, wind power generation, industrial pipes and tanks, national defense and military industries and other industries, and the penetration rate is still increasing. According to the data of China Fiber Composites Network, in 2019 my country's glass fiber applications accounted for 34%, 14%, 20%, and 10% in construction, transportation, electronics, and wind power, respectively, and the total accounted for 78%.

The glass fiber industry is divided into glass fiber yarn, glass fiber products and glass fiber composite materials

The upstream of the glass fiber industry is chemical raw materials, ore powder and energy. The glass fiber industry is divided into three parts: glass fiber yarn-glass fiber products-glass fiber composite materials, among which glass fiber products are made of glass fiber through primary processing, mainly including various glass fiber fabrics (specific varieties include gingham , electronic cloth, etc.) and glass fiber non-woven products (chopped strand mat, wet-laid thin mat, etc.). Glass fiber composite materials are made by deep processing of glass fiber products, mainly including copper clad laminates, glass fiber reinforced plastics, reinforced building materials, etc.

The demand for glass fiber in the construction sector accounts for the largest proportion, and the penetration rate of glass fiber is expected to increase

Among the downstream demand of glass fiber, the demand for glass fiber in the field of building materials is the largest. In the field of construction, glass fiber is mainly used in GRC boards, thermal insulation boards, fireproof boards, sound-absorbing materials, load-bearing components, roof waterproofing, membrane structures, etc., involving various scenarios such as building load-bearing, reinforcement, decoration, waterproofing, heat preservation, sound insulation, and fire prevention. This type of material is more durable in terms of reliability and energy-saving effect, and has a good anti-seepage and anti-crack effect on the surface, and can adapt to environmental protection and diversification of finishing processes.

Green building is the deterministic direction of future building development, and it is the stage for glass fiber to show its talents

In 2013, the General Office of the State Council proposed the "Green Building Action Plan", which clarified the development goals, basic principles, key tasks and safeguard measures of green buildings. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the State Council, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have repeatedly proposed that by 2020, the proportion of green buildings in new construction should reach 50%, and the proportion of green building materials should reach 40%. In 2020, the "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral" policies will be launched, and green buildings will become an important development direction of the construction industry. Glass fiber will benefit from the opportunities of green building promotion, improve the performance of green buildings and reduce building energy consumption based on good performance in thermal insulation, heat insulation, compression resistance and sound insulation.

It is expected that the demand for glass fiber in the construction sector will maintain a steady growth in 2022-2023

Considering that in order to achieve the goal of stable growth in 2022, infrastructure will focus on efforts. We expect the growth rate of the output value of the construction industry to be around 5% from 2022 to 2023. The demand for glass fiber per unit output value is expected to gradually increase due to the further promotion of green buildings. Under the neutral assumption, we believe that the demand for glass fiber in the construction sector from 2022 to 2023 will be 1.815 million tons and 1.908 million tons respectively, and the demand growth rate will be 6.8% and 5.1% respectively, maintaining a steady growth.

The application of glass fiber in wind power is mainly used in blades as composite reinforcement materials. According to "Research on the Influence of Composite Material Selection on Aerodynamic Design of Wind Power Blades" (Ding Ding, Li Chengliang, Mao Xiaoe), the type of glass fiber specifications in wind power blades Depending on where the glass fiber is used, there are differences. For example, the main beam and the rear edge beam play a load-bearing role. The mechanical properties are high, and high-modulus unidirectional fabrics are required. According to the prospectus of Mingyang Smart, the amount of glass fiber required for a unit GW of wind power installed capacity is about 10,000 tons.

It is expected that the demand for glass fiber in the wind power field will continue to be strong in 2022-2023

In 2020, there will be a new round of rush to install wind power across the country. During the year, the newly installed wind power capacity will reach 71.7GW, a record high. In 2021, the newly installed capacity will drop significantly. From the end of April to May 2022, many places across the country have successively released the "14th Five-Year Plan" for renewable energy. The total installed capacity of wind power is about 250-300GW, which means that the average annual completion of 2022-2025 will be more than 60GW. We predict that the installed capacity of wind power in 2022 and 2023 will be 55GW and 65GW, corresponding to the demand for glass fiber in 2022-2023 is about 550,000 tons and 650,000 tons, with growth rates of 19.0% and 18.2% respectively.

Electronic yarn is an important raw material for circuit substrates

Printed circuit board (PCB) can connect electronic components according to the designed circuit. Almost all electronic devices need to use PCB. Its core substrate is copper clad laminate (CCL), and 68% of CCL substrates are glass fiber cloth. The upstream is electronic grade glass fiber yarn. Electronic yarn insulation, high strength, heat resistance and other excellent properties make it the most important copper clad laminate base material.

Excellent enterprise is strong and strong

The homogeneity of glass fiber roving products is relatively strong. At similar prices, different enterprises have different profitability. Enterprises with low costs have higher profit margins. Reduce costs and occupy a larger market share, forming a virtuous circle. Since the rapid popularization of pool kilns at the beginning of the 21st century, the concentration pattern of the top industry has basically been established and has remained so far. In recent years, with the upgrading of production capacity, the industry concentration is still slowly increasing.