A paradigm shift toward digitization trends and rapid globalization has elevated the scope of worldwide superconducting materials market. The human quest for discovering new things to ensure a comfortable, tech-savvy, and luxurious life has led to the revelation of varied types of superconducting materials, thereby creating new opportunities for the business players. Aptly justifying the maxim of ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’, technological advancements have revolutionized the superconducting materials market, which has been depicting transformative trends, pertaining to the growing requirements of numerous end-use sectors.
In 1911, the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered that the electrical resistance of solid mercury wire immersed in the liquid helium had totally vanished at a temperature of 4.2K. The experiment had proved mercury to be a capable superconducting material, crediting Onnes with the title of the man who discovered superconductivity. Further experiments revealed lead, tin, and niobium nitride to be superconducting materials as well. These metals have proved to be useful in the manufacture of superconducting devices such as fault limiters, which is expected to provide major firms with excellent opportunities for exploring the huge untapped potential of superconducting materials market.
Superconducting Materials Industry Overview: Tremendous growth prospects forecast, due to the growing application trends
Superconducting materials, also termed as superconductors, find applications in diverse sectors such as transport, medical, power generation, power utilities, commercial power ventures, electronics, information technology, and defense. Superconductors have always exhibited high performance across magnetic-levitation used for maglev trains and magnetic bearings, that has resulted in the expansion of global superconducting materials industry size.
Maglev trains, which are the most effective mode of speedy transport, are made to float on durable superconducting magnets. This helps eliminate the friction between the train & rail track, thus contributing toward the preservation of electrical energy. A recent instance of this is the Yamanashi MLX01 Maglev train in Japan, that travels at a speed of 603 kilometers/hour. Also, a Chinese-German Maglev train is currently commuting over the 30-kilometer path at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China.
Superconducting materials market trends in the power utility sector
As of today, transformers made from superconducting materials are extensively used in power utilities. ABB, a Swedish-swiss multinational firm, has recently developed the world’s most powerful 6.4 MVA superconducting device based on Bi-2212 superconductor. Superconductors run on high or low temperature, and both the products are extensively used by superconducting materials market players for power generation. High temperature products, especially, find applications in the manufacture of energy efficient cables, and cost effective next generation superconducting devices such as 6.4 MVA, which will drive high temperature superconductor materials market.
Developed countries such as Japan and the U.S. are planning to replace underground cables made from copper with superconducting cables made from BSCCO (bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide) cooled with liquified nitrogen, which is certain to positively influence superconducting materials market growth in the future. Superconductor based electric generators are proving to be more effective over traditional copper based electric generators, as the average efficiency of the former is more than 99% and their size is half of the latter. Pertaining to this fact, superconductor based generators are prominently used across lucrative power utility projects, thereby driving superconducting materials market share in the power generation sector. Global Market Insights, Inc., has compiled a superconducting materials market report that predicts this industry to hit the targeted revenue of over USD 2 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 17% over 2017-2024. As per the statistics, the market has a valuation of USD 650 million in 2016.
Superconducting materials market trends in the defense sector
Superconducting materials find extensive utilization in military & defense applications. For instance, HTSC SQUIDS are used by the U.S. Navy to monitor the submarine activities and identify mines. Small-sized motors made from superconducting tapes and wires are also being developed for naval ships. Manufacturers use high temperature superconductor wires extensively for the degaussing of fleet ships, driven by the product’s ability to minimize the energy requirement and reduce the overall size and weight. Superconducting materials are also used in E-bombs by the U.S. armed forces to disable the operations of the enemy’s electronic devices, owing to the product capability to develop a strong EMP (electro-magnetic pulse). The highly efficient characteristics of these materials will eventually push superconducting materials industry to greater heights.
Superconducting materials market trends in the digital communications sector
Superconductors are also expected to influence the digital communications sector over the next few years. With the exponential rise in the online traffic, superconductor technology is expected to play a key role in the expansion of the internet communication activities across the globe, which will subsequently favor superconducting materials market expansion over the years ahead.
Low temperature superconducting materials market, which dominated the global superconducting materials industry revenue in 2016, is expected to significantly impact MRI and scientific research sectors. The advent of next-generation superconductor technologies supporting higher transition temperatures will enable the product usage in new applications over the coming years. The widespread application scope of superconducting materials across various industries will bring a drastic transformation in the field of polymers and advanced materials technology in the near future.
Ultra-high-performance filters are produced from superconducting materials to acquire a desired frequency and block undesirable frequencies in radio-frequency applications, such as cellular telephone systems. This is expected to create a huge growth potential for global superconducting materials market across the electronics sector.
Regional insights of the Superconducting Materials Market: Current and Future
Asia Pacific is expected to make significant contributions toward superconducting materials industry size over the next few years. Significant product applications across NMR (Nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy and MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) in the medical sector are anticipated to create profitable avenues for the business players and further boost superconducting materials industry development. This region has been experiencing a paradigm shift in terms of healthcare facilities and infrastructure. In addition, there has been a rising consciousness regarding healthcare across this region, which will generate bright growth prospects for superconducting materials industry.
The growing electronics sector will give rise to a plethora of opportunities for superconducting materials market players in this region. Widespread use of high temperature superconductors for energy conservation will boost the product demand across the electronics sector. Emerging telecommunications, transport, and power generation sectors across APAC are expected to contribute considerably towards superconducting materials market revenue. India and China, having a huge consumer base, are expected to boost the regional growth.
Superconducting materials market is also anticipated to successfully thrive across North America, with U.S. expected to make optimal contributions towards the overall industry revenue. High temperature superconductors are extensively used as filters in the U.S. aircrafts. The highly prospering automotive sector in the region will also act as a major driver for the regional growth. In addition, a favorable regulatory landscape coupled with the product’s ability to reduce GHG emissions will positively impact superconducting materials market demand across the region.
The broad application spectrum of superconducting materials industry has led to several companies partaking in the revenue share of this market. In order to strengthen their business position and establish a firm hold over the industry ecosystem, key manufacturers have been signing long-term agreements with participants of the medical, electronics, R&D, transportation and energy generation industries. The rapid development of the aforementioned sectors is certain to act as one of the chief driving forces for superconducting materials market.
Global Market Insights, Inc. has a report titled “Superconducting Materials Market Size By Product (Low Temperature, High Temperature), By End-user (Medical, Research & Development, Electronics), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Spain, Italy, China, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, GCC), Application Growth Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017 – 2024” available at https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/superconducting-materials-market