The Development Trend and Future Opportunities of the Glass Fiber Industry

1. Development history of glass fiber industry

(1) Development history of global glass fiber industry

  Glass fiber originated in the United States in the 1930s. In 1938, OC became the world's first glass fiber company. It used platinum crucible to draw continuous glass fiber production technology, realized large-scale glass fiber production, and laid the foundation for the development of modern glass fiber manufacturing industry. During World War II, glass fiber was mainly used in the aviation industry, such as aircraft radomes and auxiliary fuel tanks. After World War II, glass fiber gradually extended to rocket engine shells, ship materials and other fields, and was gradually used in civil fields such as transportation, construction, wind power, and electronics.

  In 1958, the United States took the lead in the production of glass fiber by using the pool kiln drawing method, which greatly improved the production scale and efficiency of glass fiber. In the 1960s, with the development of industry, high-strength, high-modulus glass fibers were studied by changing the glass composition. After the 1970s, with the application of various reinforced sizing agents, reinforced glass fiber products have been greatly developed in composite materials.

(2) Development history of my country's glass fiber industry

The development process of my country's glass fiber industry can be divided into the following three stages:

A. The first stage: from 1958 to 1988, the initial period

  In 1958, in order to meet the requirements of the National Defense Science and Industry, the 500-ton alkali-free glass fiber workshop of Shanghai Yaohua Glass Factory was officially put into operation, marking the beginning of the construction of my country's glass fiber industrial system. In the next 30 years of development, my country has successively established a complete glass fiber industry with large and medium-sized fiberglass enterprises such as Hangzhou General Glass Plant, Changzhou 253 Plant, Shaanxi Glass Fiber Plant, and Chongqing Glass Fiber Plant as the backbone. system. In the past 30 years, China's glass fiber technology is mainly based on ball crucible wire drawing.

B. The second stage: 1989 to 2008, a period of rapid development

  In 1989, the Zhuhai Fiberglass Plant introduced for the first time a complete set of technology and equipment for the 4,000-ton-a-year alkali-free glass fiber drawing production line in a pool kiln, and started a new journey for the production of glass fiber by the pool kiln method in my country. In 1998, my country’s first 7,500-ton tank kiln production line with fully localized technology and equipment was completed and put into operation at the Xinxing Glass Fiber Plant of Hangzhou Glass Group Co., Ltd., marking my country’s comprehensive mastery of the full set of production technology and equipment and laying a foundation for the development of my country’s glass fiber industry. The foundation. In 2004, China Jushi built the first domestic production line for kiln wire drawing with an annual output of 60,000 tons. The efficiency of the production line was significantly improved and energy consumption was significantly reduced. This marked the beginning of rapid expansion and large-scale production of large-scale glass fiber enterprises in my country. In 2007, my country's glass fiber output reached 1.6 million tons, ranking first in the world; in 2008, my country's glass fiber usage and export volume ranked first in the world.

C. The third stage: 2009 to present, mature development period

  Through nearly 10 years of improvement and innovation, my country has established a complete supporting system for glass fiber raw materials, manufacturing, and equipment, forming a glass fiber production method with Chinese characteristics. China's glass fiber industry has become the leader and engine of the world's glass fiber manufacturing industry. It has reached the international leading level in tank furnace technology, glass formulation and surface treatment technology, automation and intelligent equipment application, and energy saving technology. In 2019, my country Glass fiber production has accounted for 65.88% of the world's glass fiber production.

2. Industry development trend

(1) Develop towards large-scale tank kiln production lines, and low-end, small-capacity production lines will face gradual elimination

  Glass fiber mainly has two production processes: pool kiln drawing method and crucible drawing method. The crucible wire drawing method has low requirements for production equipment and production technology, low investment, and flexible adjustment of production scale. Therefore, small glass fiber enterprises often use this method. However, this method has to be formed twice, the procedure is complicated, the energy consumption and pollution of the production process are large, and the product performance and quality are poor, so it has been basically eliminated. The pool kiln drawing method calculates the ratio of raw materials according to the chemical composition of the glass fiber product to be produced, and then puts the fine powder of raw materials into the glass kiln according to the ratio, and melts into molten glass at high temperature, and then draws by the high-speed running wire drawing machine. Coating with sizing agent, the glass liquid flowing from the perforated plate in the front furnace passage of the tank kiln is made into glass fiber precursor, and then dried, decomposed, winding, chopped, twisted, weaving and other processes to form a Various structures and properties of glass fiber and glass fiber products.

  The National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue (2019 Edition)" in November 2019, which incorporated "80,000 tons/year and above alkali-free glass fiber roving (monofilament diameter> 9 microns) pool kiln drawing technology, 50,000 tons /Year and above alkali-free glass fiber spun yarn (monofilament diameter ≤9 microns) pool kiln drawing technology, ultra-fine, high-strength, high-modulus, alkali-resistant, low-dielectric, high-silica, degradable, special-shaped cross-section and other high-performance glass fibers And glass fiber product technology development and production" are included in the encouraged category, and "medium-alkali glass fiber pool kiln drawing production line; single kiln size less than 80,000 tons/year (excluding) non-alkali glass fiber roving pool kiln drawing production line; Medium-alkali, alkali-free, alkali-resistant glass ball kiln production line; medium-alkali, alkali-free glass fiber replacement platinum crucible wire drawing production line" is included in the restricted category. The fiber production line will not be able to be built or expanded, and the overall production mode of the industry will develop toward a large-scale pool kiln wire drawing production line. This not only tests the financial strength of glass fiber manufacturers, but also puts forward higher requirements for the design, construction and operation of large-scale tank kilns of glass fiber manufacturers.

(2) Downstream application areas continue to expand, and products are rapidly iteratively upgraded

  Material application innovation is an important link in the technological innovation and transformation of traditional industries. As an important part of the strategic new material industry and advanced substitute materials, fiber composite materials have been expanding their application fields and products rapidly iteratively upgraded. The strategic emerging industries listed in the "Classification of Strategic Emerging Industries (2018)" of the National Bureau of Statistics include a new generation of information technology industry, high-end equipment manufacturing industry, new material industry, biological industry, new energy automobile industry, new energy industry, and energy saving. There are nine categories of environmental protection industry, digital creative industry, and related service industry. Glass fiber and its products not only belong to the new material industry, but also provide upstream raw material supply for the new generation of information technology industry, high-end equipment manufacturing industry, new energy automobile industry, new energy industry, and energy conservation and environmental protection industry. With the characteristics of high mechanical strength, good insulation, good corrosion resistance, light weight and high strength, glass fiber has been continuously obtained in the fields of rail transit, automobile lightweight, wind power blades, 5G communications, energy-saving buildings, high-pressure pipe tanks, thermal insulation, etc. New application.

(3) The production process technology has been continuously optimized, and the energy consumption per unit product and the loss rate of platinum on the missing plate have been significantly improved.

  In recent years, companies in the industry have continuously made technological innovations in the design of large-scale tank kilns with high melting rates, logistics automation and intelligence, waste heat utilization, large leakage plate development, sizing agent modification and recovery, glass raw material detection and analysis, and formulation development. And integration to promote the continuous improvement and upgrading of domestic glass fiber tank kiln technology. The continuous optimization of the above production technology has led to the continuous increase of the upper limit of the capacity of a single kiln, and the unit product energy consumption and the loss rate of platinum loss have been significantly reduced. The number of production operators in a single kiln has been significantly reduced, which has greatly improved the production efficiency and Product quality reduces the unit cost of glass fiber.

(4) Breakthrough in large-scale, low-cost production technology of carbon fiber and other reinforced fiber materials

  Glass fiber is currently the field of high-performance fiber with large-scale, low-cost, and most mature production technology. Through continuous technological innovation, enterprises in the industry have repeatedly achieved new highs in the production capacity of a single tank kiln. Both carbon fiber and glass fiber are inorganic non-metallic materials in new materials, and both can be used as reinforcing materials in composite materials. Compared with glass fiber, carbon fiber has the characteristics of low density, high strength and high modulus. Carbon fiber products are customized products with high directivity, and complex stress calculations are required during processing. Therefore, carbon fiber is generally used in product fields that require extremely high strength modulus, such as large wind turbine blades, rockets, satellites, missiles, and fighter jets. And ships and other cutting-edge weapons and equipment, clubs, fishing rods, tennis rackets, badminton rackets, bicycles, ski poles, snowboards, windsurfing masts, sailing hulls and other sporting goods.

  With the enlargement of wind power blades and the development of the ocean, it is required to further realize the lightweight, high-strength, high-rigidity, and impact resistance of the blades, and the use ratio of carbon fiber will show an expanding trend.

  Carbon fiber needs to break through large-scale and low-cost, carbon fiber advanced manufacturing technology and equipment will be widely used in the manufacturing industry. At present, the price of carbon fiber is much higher than that of glass fiber, and there is a technical bottleneck for large-scale production. Therefore, it cannot replace the position of glass fiber in inorganic non-metallic reinforced materials in the short term.

  In terms of insulation and wave permeability, the properties of glass fiber and carbon fiber are mutually exclusive. Glass fiber has good insulation performance, non-conductivity, and good wave permeability; carbon fiber has good conductivity and good electromagnetic shielding. Therefore, in the field of composite materials that require insulation and wave-transmitting properties, carbon fiber cannot replace glass fiber.

3. Glass fiber production and import and export situation

(1) Analysis of glass fiber output changes

  From 2012 to 2019, the total global glass fiber production increased from 5.3 million tons to 8 million tons, with an average annual compound growth rate of 6.06%; from 2012 to 2020, the total domestic glass fiber production increased from 2.88 million tons to 5.41 million tons. The compound annual growth rate is 8.20%. The continuous expansion of the application range of glass fiber and the increase in the market capacity of downstream industries are the direct reasons for the growth of the glass fiber industry.

  According to the analysis and statistics of the historical development data of the glass fiber industry, the average growth rate of the global glass fiber industry is generally 1.5-2 times the GDP growth rate. The growth rate of domestic glass fiber production in the past ten years has been higher than the growth rate of global glass fiber production, and the proportion of domestic production in global production has continued to increase. The main reasons include: China's GDP growth rate has averaged around 6% in the past decade, which is higher than the world GDP growth rate. China’s economy is an important growth engine for the world economy, driving the growth of demand in the downstream fiberglass industry; global fiberglass production capacity has shifted to China, and domestic fiberglass giants have increased the global market of domestic fiberglass companies through overseas acquisitions and investment in new production lines. Occupancy rate has formed a scale effect; under the national major infrastructure and new infrastructure strategies, investment and construction in the fields of wind power, transportation, electronic communications, building decoration, industrial pipes and tanks has greatly increased the demand for glass fiber; China’s white foam The reserves of mineral raw materials required for glass fiber such as stone, pyrophyllite, kaolin, limestone, and quartz sand are very abundant, and have the unique advantage of localized matching in the supply of raw materials.

(2) Analysis of changes in total import and export volume of glass fiber and its products

  From 2012 to 2019, the export volume of glass fiber and its products showed a continuous growth trend, from 1.2101 million tons to 1.539 million tons, with an average annual compound growth rate of 3.49%. The main reasons for the increase in the export volume of glass fiber and its products include: Domestic companies have achieved breakthroughs in glass formulations, sizing agent preparation, fiber molding and other technical processes. Some specifications of high-performance glass fibers have opened up overseas markets; compared with glass fiber manufacturers in the United States, Japan, and Europe, China’s glass fiber manufacturers have minerals The advantages of localization of raw materials, low labor costs, and economies of scale have made the unit production cost of glass fiber relatively low, and it has strong competitiveness in the international market. Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the export volume of glass fiber and its products in 2020 will drop to 1.33 million tons.

  From 2012 to 2020, the export of glass fiber and its products accounted for a continuous decline in the proportion of domestic output from 42.02% in 2012 to 24.58% in 2020. The main reasons for the decline in the export proportion are as follows: The strong investment demand in the fields of electronic communication, building decoration, industrial pipes and tanks has driven the growth of domestic glass fiber demand; on the other hand, due to the advantages of Chinese glass fiber enterprises in production costs, European Union, Turkey, India and other countries or regions Anti-dumping duties or countervailing duties have been imposed on fiberglass and its products originating in China, which has affected the export of some fiberglass products to certain countries and regions to a certain extent.

4. Opportunities facing the industry

(1) National industrial policy support

  The material industry is the basic industry of the national economy. In order to encourage and support the development of the glass fiber industry, the state has issued a series of industrial policies to support vigorously, creating a favorable market environment for the development of the industry. "Made in China 2025" issued by China clearly stated: "With special metallic functional materials, high-performance structural materials, functional polymer materials, special inorganic non-metallic materials and advanced composite materials as the development focus, accelerate the development of advanced smelting and solidification molding. The key technologies and equipment for the preparation of new materials such as, vapor deposition, profile processing, and high-efficiency synthesis, strengthen basic research and system construction, and break through the bottleneck of industrial preparation." Glass Fiber Association and Composites Association issued "Fiber Composite Materials Industry "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" "Development Plan", which clearly states that "promote the development of high-performance glass fibers, focusing on the development of functional glass fibers such as alkali-resistant, low-dielectric, flat fibers, ultra-fine electronic fibers and ultra-thin electronic cloths, and accelerate the development of intelligent and green manufacturing technologies. , To promote the industrialization of high-strength and high-modulus glass fibers and thermoplastic composite materials." The "Thirteenth Five-Year" National Strategic Emerging Industry Development Plan issued by my country clearly stated: "Expand the scope of large-scale applications such as high-performance fibers and advanced inorganic non-metallic materials, and gradually enter the global high-end manufacturing procurement system."

  My country issued the "Classification of Strategic Emerging Industries (2018)" and listed glass fiber and glass fiber products in the "Classification of Strategic Emerging Industries" catalog. The "Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue (2019 Edition)" proposes to combine the development of ultra-fine, high-strength, high-modulus, alkali-resistant, low-dielectric, high-silica, degradable, and special-shaped cross-section technologies for high-performance glass fibers and glass fiber products. Production is included in the encouraged category. The "Guiding Catalogue for the First Batch of Application Demonstrations of Key New Materials (2019 Edition)" lists high silica glass fiber products, boron-free high-performance glass fibers, electronic grade ultra-fine glass fibers, and HS6 high-strength glass fibers as key strategic materials. The introduction of the above series of industry encouragement policies has provided good policy guidelines and institutional guarantees for the healthy development of the glass fiber industry, and has brought a positive impact on the sustainable and stable operation of enterprises in the industry.

(2) The national concept of green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable development drives the vigorous development of some downstream areas of glass fiber

  My country proposes: "Advocate green, low-carbon, circular, and sustainable production and lifestyles, promote the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in a balanced manner, and continue to develop a civilized development path featuring production development, a prosperous life, and a sound ecological environment." This will increase the country's independent contribution. We will adopt more effective policies and measures, strive to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Reducing fossil fuel combustion emissions, vigorously developing clean energy, and advocating green travel have been raised to the level of national development strategies. In this context, investment in wind power, urban rail transit, the national high-speed railway network, and the lightweight transformation of automobiles has increased significantly. The overall demand for upstream fiberglass and its products has increased correspondingly, thus driving the fiberglass and its products. The rapid development of the product industry.

(3) With the global popularization of 5G mobile communication technology, it will drive the strong demand for electronic grade glass fiber cloth

  Electronic grade glass fiber cloth is used as a reinforcing material, and it is impregnated with adhesives composed of different resins to make FR4 sheet and a copper clad laminate. As a common board in printed circuit boards (PCB boards), it is an important basic material in the electronics industry.

   The market application space of electronic grade fiberglass cloth is determined by the market in terminal fields such as communications, automotive electronics, and consumer electronics. In the 5G era, wireless signals will extend to higher frequency bands. Since the coverage area of base stations is inversely proportional to the communication frequency, the density of base stations and mobile data calculations will increase significantly. The number of 5G base stations will be twice that of the 4G era. In addition, there will be about 10 times the number of small base stations to solve the problem of weak coverage and blind spots. The increase of Internet data centers (IDC) and communication base stations will bring huge demand for high-speed PCB boards.

  The 5G communication frequency band will increase the number of RF front-end components, requiring the use of large-area multi-layer PCB boards and high-frequency and high-speed substrates, and the value of a single base station PCB board will also be greatly increased. With the construction and global promotion of 5G, the field of electronic grade fiberglass cloth will usher in a golden age.

(4) The implementation of the national new infrastructure construction strategy will promote the continuous and stable increase in the demand for functional glass fibers

  My country proposes to focus on supporting the "two new and one heavy" construction (new infrastructure construction, new urbanization construction, transportation and water conservancy and other major construction projects), of which "new infrastructure" mainly includes: 5G base station construction, UHV, intercity high-speed railway and the seven major areas of urban rail transit, new energy vehicle charging piles, big data centers, artificial intelligence, and industrial Internet. These application areas are basically the range that glass fiber composite materials can cover, which will promote the continuous and stable increase in the demand for functional glass fibers.