See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/279885298

Composites in India - A Review

Article · October 2012

CITATIONS READS

0 1,045

1 author:

Ashok Rajpurohit
MINES ParisTech
11 PUBLICATIONS   3 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

FiBreMoD View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ashok Rajpurohit on 08 July 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.


FEATURE
Composites in India - A Review
Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische Technologie (ICT) Deutschland
Technical textiles
Technical textile now has generated a large
base and investor's interest as it has become
the largest growing segment in Indian textile
industry. The Indian technical textiles market
has been growing continuously since its
introduction and recently from Rs. 42,000
crores in 2007-08 to Rs. 57,000 crores in
2010-11 registering a Compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) of about 11%. There are
over 3000 units manufacturing technical
textiles, mostly in small scale sector. About
2/3rd of the production is of commodity
products, only 1/3rd is high-end. Though
India is the second largest textile economy
after China, the fact is that its contribution in
the global technical textile industry is only 9%
to the total consumption.
Currently India earns about 27% of its total
foreign exchange through textile exports.
Further, the textile industry of India also
contributes nearly 14% of the total industrial
production of the country. It also contributes
around 3% to the GDP of the country. The
growth, development and manufacture of
high value products from technical textiles
Figure 1: Segment wise current and expected growth of technical textiles
INDUSTRY DIGEST
Ashok Narayansingh Rajpurohit.
segment can improve the figures to a much
greater extent. The growth of various technical
textile segments for the year 2011-12 and the
predicted growth after 5 years are tabled
below.xv
Government Initiatives for promotion
of technical textiles
Govt. of India in order to promote the filed of
technical textiles has taken many steps in a
structured manner. Some the major schemes
for technical textiles are:
ØScheme for Growth and Development of
Technical Textiles (SGDTT)
A Scheme for Growth and Development of
Technical Textiles (SGDTT) was launched
during 2007-08 comprising of 3 components:
1.Baseline Survey of Technical Textile
Industry in India.
2.Creation of Awareness through Seminars/
workshops /Training programmes.
3.Setting up of Centres of Excellence: Four
33 . FRP TODAY . September 2012
Centres of Excellence (COEs) were set up,
i.e., BTRA for COE Geotech, SASMIRA for
COE Agrotech, NITRA for COE Protech and
SITRA for COE Meditech. The COEs are
working like one stop shop to provide
infrastructure support in terms of Facilities for
testing with national and international
accreditation center, Development of
Resource Centre with I.T. infrastructure,
Facilities for training, prototype development
etc
ØTechnology Mission On Technical
Textiles (TMTT):
Technology Mission on Technical Textiles
(TMTT) Govt. has recently launched TMTT
with two mini missions for a period of five
years (from 2010-11 to 2014-15) with two
Mini Missions. The aim of TMTT is to
address the issues like lack of basic
infrastructure in terms of testing facilities,
lack of market development support, skilled
manpower, lack of R & D, absence of
regulatory measures, absence of
specifications and standards for technical
textiles etc. The total fund outlay for TMTT is
Rs 200 Crore.
1.Mini Mission-I
Setting up of four new Centers of Excellence
(COEs) in Composites, Non-Wovens,
Indutech and Sportstech. Up gradation of
existing four COEs: The existing COEs will
be upgraded in line with new COEs i.e. with
incremental facilities like incubation centre
and development of prototypes and provision
for appointment of consultants.
2.Mini Mission-II
Ø Support for Business Start Up, Fund support
for organizing workshops/ seminar, Support
for Contract Research, Market development
support for sale to the institutional buyers and
Identification of regulations required for
promotion of technical textiles are its main
objectives.
Other Government initiatives:
Ø
Major machinery required for the technical
textiles has been placed in the concessional

FEATURE
Figure 2: Progress of Indian composite industries.
custom duty list of 5 percent. Specified
technical textile products are covered under
focus product scheme/green technology
products/hi-tech products of Exim policy and
are entitled for duty credit scrip equivalent to
2% of FOB value of exports.
Technical textile machinery is covered under
the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme
(TUFS) and eligible for 5% interest
reimbursement & 10% capital subsidy.
Under the Scheme for Integrated Textile
Parks (SITP), the Government provides
assistance for creation of infrastructure in the
parks to the extent of 40% limited to Rs.40
crore (US$ 8.82 mn.). Under Integrated Skill
Development Scheme (ISDS), it is proposed
to train 22,000 personnel in technical textile
sector during the year 2010-11 & 2011-12. In
Textile sector FDI is permitted through
automatic route without any limit on the
extent of foreign ownership. Thus there is no
restriction on any amount of FDI , with or
without local partner. Government incentives
are equally applicable to FDI units
Hence all these schemes are aimed at boosting
the research and development in fields of
technical textile and development of market
base for these technical products.
Introduction and growth of
Composites in India
In India, Fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) were
first manufactured in 1962, and the first
product they manufactured was roofing
sheets. During the year1964, many other
industries started manufacturing this product
along with other products alike the composite
tanks. Availability of these essential raw
materials and polymers triggered setting up of
INDUSTRY DIGEST
several small-scale units in India for making
composite products using hand lay-up process.
The high cost of raw materials, lack of
availability of many essential materials
because of import restrictions and the lack of
mechanized production methods affected the
production of composites in large volumes. As
a result, Indian composite industry could not
compete with steel, aluminium or timber.
During last three decades, more than 1200
small-scale industries have been established in
the country. More than 98% of them use hand
lay-up technique for composite fabrication.
Improvements in volume growth only started
in early 2000 as a result of the globalization of
the Indian economy. The total production of
composite was about 75,000 tons in 2004-05
and it had risen to 1,10,000 tons in 2005-06.
The following graph shows the growth of
Indian composite industry from 1990 onwards.
In 2010 the Indian composites industry
continued its strong growth and recorded
nearly a 18.5% growth during January-
December 2010. The Rs 6,000 crore Indian
composites market has been on an upswing
over the last five years with a growth of 18.5%,
spurred by strong demand in pipes and tanks,
renewable energy (wind & solar energy), mass
transit, automotives, trucks, and power sector.
Indian GDP growing at robust rates is fueling a
new set of business for the composites
industry. The Indian composites industry is
growing rapidly and is projected to grow at a
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of
22% over the next four years. By the end of
2014, total Indian composites industry would
be over US$ 3bln.
Over the next five years it is believed that the
global composites market is likely to grow at
nearly 4 percent. The Indian Composites
industry could grow at 20–22 % over the next
2834. FRP
. FRPTODAY
TODAY. August 2012 2012
. September
five years. Current Indian production of
composites is estimated at about 3 lakh tons
per annum. Hence the projection for 2015 is
approximately 7.5 lakh tons per annum,
which would be about 3per cent of global
volumes and 1/3 of present volumes in China.
Pipes & Tanks, Transportation and Wind
Energy are the front runners for growth in
India with predicted growth rates in these
sectors at 33 %, 26% and 15% respectively.
With the gradual induction of modern
technology Indian composites market has
been growing rapidly with newer products
manufactured. The analysis of India's
composite market reveals that although many
small fabricators are using hand lay-up
methods for manufacturing composite
products, the use of computer controlled
advanced fabrication equipment such as
filament winding system, pultrusion, RTM
and other equipment is growing rapidly.
India is as of now world's second largest
growing economy, there is a huge potential for
use of composite in Indian automobile
industry especially for catering to the
transportation needs of growing middle class
population. There would be a good market
for hoods, cabs, frames, and cargo containers
that could be used as part of these locally built
vehicles. The business opportunities for
Indian composites industry also include air
intake manifold, composite fishing trawlers,
refrigerated freight containers, pressure
vessel for gas, motor driven carts, storage
light houses, boats for Tuna fishing,
thermoformed components for automotive
applications, walkways & piles for building
foundation, RCC casting shutters leaf spring,
air intake manifold etc.
India has made tremendous progress in wind
power sector wherein composite
consumption has exceeded China & Japan.
India is the fourth largest generator of wind
power in the world. M/s. Suzlon Energy Ltd.,
Pune has emerged as leading suppliers of
wind turbine in the global market. The major
use of composite in India began with chemical
industry because of excellent corrosion
resistance property of composites. Some of
the applications include chemical equipment,
piping, cooling tower, fire fighting breathing
apparatus etc
1.Marine Equipments
In early 1970s the use of composites for boat
building applications started and it replaced
wood because of certain advantages such as
corrosion resistance, ease of fabrication,
improved performance and low cost. The
marine market for composites stood around
1000 tons per annum as on 2006 and this is
 INDUSTRY DIGEST
FEATURE

expected to grow at 3000 tons by 2010, with

applications in leisure boats, houseboats,
speedboats etc.

2.Chemical Equipment

Chemical industry was the first industry

which majorly started use of composites,
because of excellent corrosion resistance of
composites. Applications in this sector
include chemical equipment, piping and fire
fighting breathing apparatus. Composite
pipes find applications in sea-water intakes
and effluent discharge in desalination plants,
as ducts in the chemical industry, as cross-
country water transmission pipelines, sewer
pipelines etc. These are also being used for
fabricating cooling tower units where the
composite materials resist the corrosive
effects of moisture.

3. Rail Figure 3(a): Consumption of composites (Application wise)

Composites were identified as a potential

material for application in the Indian
Railways in the early 1980s for many
passenger coach components such as louvre
and glass shutters, window sills and frames,
trays for battery boxes, ceilings, and flooring.
The railways were working towards the
complete elimination of timber and plywood
in the coaches. The present consumption of
composite materials by Indian Railways is
estimated at about 8000 tons, with an annual
growth rate of 20%.

4. Automotive

The automobile industry is another sector

where significant amounts of composite
materials have been used in passenger cars,
scooters and helmets. The growth rate of
composites used in the automotive sector is
shown below. An average European car
contains 200-300 kg of textile material into it
and the use of composite is recently increased
because of the fuel efficiency and crash
worthiness.
5.Oil and Gas
There are a vast number of potential applica-
tions for composites in the oil and gas sector
in India over the coming years in high-
pressure pipes and pipe fittings. Current
offshore structural applications of composites
include low-pressure pipe, gratings,
handrails, equipment covers or enclosures
and ladders. Because of their low weight,
corrosion resistance, improved life-cycle
costs and enhanced safety, it is predicted that
composite materials can capture 50% of this
market in the oil and gas sector in the next 5-6
years.
The present overall consumption of
Figure 3(b): Consumption of composites (Application wise)
composites has been estimated at around
110,000 tons per annum as summarized
below:
All figures in '000 tons
According to industry statistics, composites
market in India has seen a revolutionary
development in the last five years. The Indian
composites industry has been steadily gaining
growth momentum over the last few years and
is expected to grow more than 20% in the
current year, reflecting the upbeat economy
and strong fundamental drivers for growth. It
is forecasted that the Indian composites
market will grow at the rate of 25% in the
coming 5 years.
The Indian composites market is growing
very rapidly but the industry still faces
constraints to moving ahead. The fragmented
market creates chaos among the various
stakeholders within the value chain and
inhibits the growth concentration. This
industry, that is over fifty years old in India,
does not have any regulatory framework/
bodies. The major challenges faced are:
Higher raw materials price
Ø
Absence of standardization of end products
Ø
Lack of skilled labor, and automated
production
Lack of indigenous machinery and process
Ø
consumables makers
Lack of awareness of composites in the
Ø
Indian industrial sector and poor knowledge
base in composites sector
Ø Absence of government legislation
stipulating the use of composites products in
key areas

29 . FRP TODAY . August 2012

2936. FRP
. FRPTODAY
TODAY. August 20122012
. September

FEATURE
Lack of R&D and IPR portfolio
Ø would be a good market for hoods, cabs,
ØLack of quality consciousness among small
FRP/GRP manufacturers
ØReluctance of fabricators to invest in
mechanized processes Little effort to develop
new products and applications
An analysis of the market reveals that
although many small fabricators are using
hand lay-up methods for manufacturing
composite products, the use of computer
controlled, advanced fabrication techniques
such as filament winding, pultrusion and resin
transfer moulding (RTM) is growing rapidly.
The Indian composite industry has a strong
manufacturing base (with automated
processes) and good design and development
expertise. Global companies like Dupont,
DSM, Sabic, Amiantit, Pentair, Georgia
Pacific, Fibergrate, Saertex, Vestas,
Hepworth, Beluga Tanks, Suzlon, LM and
Enercon have entered in the Indian market
and have established strong base for export
and local demand. The trend of the industry is
now of consolidation and automation. Several
companies are investing in newer
technologies to improve productivity and
quality to meet increasing demands of local as
well as export market.
There is a huge potential for use of composites
in the Indian automobile industry, especially
for catering to the transportation needs of
growing middle-class population. There
View publication stats
INDUSTRY DIGEST
frames, and cargo containers that could be
used as part of these locally-built vehicles.
Other opportunities for the Indian composites
industry include refrigerated freight
containers, pressure vessels, fishing boats,
walkways and piles for building foundations,
and air intake manifolds.
Recent government Initiatives for
development of composites in India.
Ø Composite Design & Application Centre
takes shape at IIT-Kharagpur
n view of the importance of composites as a
performance material with huge application,
potential especially for a country like India,
the Composite Applications Laboratory
(CAL) has been set up under the aegis of the
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur.
CAL has been conceptualized as an industry-
focused and industry-oriented centre of
excellence to extend technology support in
composite product design and fabrication
along with process optimization, QA & QC
requirements etc. The project is an important
step for India where the technology support
for composites has been inadequate.
Ø The state-of-the-art manufacturing and
testing facilities have been established to meet
the needs of industry. Modern fabrication
techniques available in the Composite
Application Laboratory at IIT include 6-axes
filament winding system complete with 60
29 . FRP TODAY . August 2012
2936. FRP
. FRPTODAY
TODAY. August 20122012
. September
tons hydraulic extractor unit and CADWIND
software, resin transfer moulding (RTM) and
vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding
(VARTM) equipments along with gel-coat
sprayer and 300-ton compression moulding
system.
Ø Centre of Excellence for Composites:
ATIRA
Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research
Association (ATIRA) has set up a centre of
excellence (COE) for composites at an
investment of Rs 180 crore, to make high
performance fabrics for automobile sector.
The COE, is to come up in collaboration with
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) of
Fraunhofer Germany. It will focus on
applications and product development for
mobility sector covering automobiles,
aerospace and marine transport, defense,
amongst others. The initial phase
procurement of machinery and testing
instruments is underway and it is engaged in
multifarious activities with the objective of
rendering scientific and technical assistance
to the textile and allied industry. Various
activities are described in brief as under:
Research & Development, Training and Man
Power Development for Industry, Testing and
Evaluation, Technical services and
consultancy and Publication.
Ashok Narayansingh Rajpurohit. ,
Fraunhofer-Institut für Chemische
Technologie (ICT) Deutschland
Author contact email:
ashok.rajpurohit@ict.fraunhofer.de