Ceramic Ferrule Overview
1.1 Definition
Fiber optic ceramic ferrule is a key component for optical communication device connection. It is made from zirconia powder through raw material mixing and granulation, injection molding, high temperature sintering and precision grinding.
Fiber optic ceramic ferrule is usually used in conjunction with fiber optic ceramic sleeve, and the fiber optic connector made of ceramic ferrule is a removable and classified, which makes the connection and conversion scheduling of optical channels more flexible.
Ceramic ferrule made from nano-zirconia raw materials have the following properties:
Good coaxiality and dimensional accuracy; high strength, excellent wear resistance and aging resistance; low insertion loss.
1.2 Classification
According to the size of the outer pin diameter of the ceramic ferrule, the outer diameter with 2.5mm is called SC type (mainly used in FC, SC and ST connector types), and the outer diameter with 1.25mm is called LC type (mainly used in LC、MU connector types).
The manufacturing of ceramic ferrule require ultrahigh precision. The concentricity of the central axis of single-mode products must be less than 1μm, while the concentricity of multi-mode products must be less than 4μm.
1.3 Manufacturing process
At present, ceramic powder injection molding is used for fiber optic ceramic ferrule production. The process is divided into two parts: roughcast production and precision machining, the specific preparation process is as follows:
1.4 Applications
Ceramic ferrule is mainly used in fiber optic connectors, which is the core component of fiber optic connectors. Ceramic ferrule used in fiber optic connectors occupy 72% of the ceramic ferrule market.
Optic fiber connector
About 25% of the ceramic ferrules are applied to passive optical devices, such as optical divider, transceiver, optical etc.
The rest (about 3%) is applied to other Active optical devices, such as semiconductor laser, etc.
Ceramic Ferrule Industry Analyses
2.1 Industry chain structure
The upstream main raw materials of fiber optic ceramic ferrule are zirconia powder and some sintering aids, protective gas, etc., which are prepared through sintering, grinding, polishing, testing and other forming processes. The final products are applied in fiber optic connectors, optical modules, optical transceivers and other passive & active optical devices.
2.2 Key material - ZrO2 analysis
The zirconia used in the ceramic ferrule is nano-composite zirconia, which is stabilized by adding Y2O3, CeO, CaO and other stabilizers in the preparation process of zirconia powder.
Nano-composite zirconia manufacturers are mainly concentrated in Europe, USA and Japan, Among them, the Saint-gobain(France), TOSOH (Japan), Diichi Kigenso Kagaku Kogyo (Japan) have better industrial layout than the others.
Showa Denko (Japan), Solvay SA (Belgium), Sumitomo Group (Japan) occupy an important position in some subdivisions.
2.3 Competition pattern
High Production technical barriers, high requirements for equipments, most of new entrants are in the R&D process, the threat of new entrants is low.
New products launch into the market, only a few enterprises control the core production technology of ceramic ferrules, and the bargaining power of buyers is weak.
Only a few companies have mass production capacity, the market demand is expanding, the suppliers with large production capacity can get a strong bargaining power.
As the core components of fiber optic connectors, one of the key material of optical communication materials in 5g market, based on the excellent properties, the threat of substitutes is relatively weak.
With the coming of 5g era, the market demand for fiber optic connectors in communication base stations & data centers keeps growing, and the production capacity of ceramic ferrule manufacturers will increased. The competitive pattern won't changed much, the internal competitive stress is weak.
Ceramic Ferrule Market Analyses
3.1 China market scale analysis
The market size of ceramic ferrule for fiber optic connectors in China has reached about 2 billion yuan in 2017, and the annual compound growth rate of the market size in the 4g era is 8%.
At the beginning of the 4g outbreak, the market scale growth rate could be as high as 71%. With the opening of 5g era, it is expected that the market scale will reach to more than 5 billion yuan immediately when 5g launch into large-scale commercial use.
3.2 Global market share analysis
Ceramic ferrule related technology started from Japan, before 2000, the global ceramic ferrule market was basically occupied by Japanese manufacturers.
As Chinese manufacturers' growth and the ceramic ferrule industry transfer, China occupy for 80 % of the market share at present, China's ceramic ferrule production ability is 95% of the world's total output.
3.3 Global market demand analysis
With the beginning of 5g construction, in 2020 there will have a global demand of 983 million core kilometers (unit for optical fiber & cable) of optical fiber & cable. As the upstream product of fiber optic, the ceramic ferrule market demand will also be steadily increasing.
Market Prospect & Growing Trend
Construction of 5g has started. In 2018 for 5g, need to build super dense small base station network, the number of base stations will be more than 4g, in the future 5g base station will be about 4.5 million. The demand of fiber optic will significantly improve, the estimated fiber optic cable demand for the next 5 years might maintain the average growth rate of 15%.
According to Ofweek's estimation, the global fiber optic connector market will reach 4.9 billion US dollars in 2020, and the future market space of fiber optics will bring broad market prospects for ceramic ferrules.
Development trend of ceramic fiber core insert products:
Higher dimensional accuracy & coaxiality.
Low insertion loss.
High strength, wear resistance and aging resistance.
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