As the adoption of strong, lightweight carbon fiber as a building material continues to unfold at a rapid pace in virtually every industry, drones are increasingly reaping the benefits. The global carbon fiber market size, in terms of value, is projected to reach $3.5 billion by 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 9.1%, while the global carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) market should grow to about 10 times that size over the same span, according to analysts at Markets and Markets.

They cite the increasing production capacities of Boeing and Airbus, rising demand for fuel efficient vehicles, and growing application of CFRP in other applications such as sporting goods, civil engineering, and wind energy.

Aerospace carbon received perhaps its highest profile public commercial endorsement in recent years with the delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to All Nippon Airways (ANA) in the fall of 2011. The 787 was the first commercial production aircraft to use carbon fiber as a primary construction component; about 50% of its fuselage and wings were designed with such materials. The result was a whopping 20% increase in fuel efficiency.

"The first few Dreamliners had their problems, but they were electrical, not structural," says Tomoaki Koshiya, deputy manager of international business at Graphite Design Inc. "The fact that carbon is the wave of the future really didn't need an endorsement, but Boeing probably helped to accelerate the market thinking about all the wonderful applications for carbon that hadn't been thought of yet."

Mr. Koshiya manned a small booth at Japan Drone 2016 expo earlier this year in Chiba as part of the entourage fielded by Enroute Co., an unmanned vehicle maker. Both companies are based in Saitama, adjacent to Tokyo.

But Graphite Design's business has little to do with drones, at least not yet. The firm currently makes graphite golf shafts for the sporting goods industry, and counts Calloway Golf as one of its clients.

"The specs for golf shafts are not that different as for the beams used to build multi-copter drones," he says. "We're hopeful that without any major redesigning, our carbon units can be repurposed almost straight away for drone use."

The progress already made in developing carbon-based building components may prove him right. While carbon fiber has actually been around for decades, its application in the aviation industry is still just emerging. Its ability to be simultaneously stronger and more lightweight than aluminum makes it ideal for assembling aircraft and flying vehicles.

Roughly speaking, carbon fiber is about 1.5 times lighter per unit volume than aluminum, and boasts a tensile strength of about 38.3 pounds per square inch, vs. 27 to 33.1 for the metal. Just in the last year, Graphite Design has been able to cut the weight of its top quality carbon golf shafts by around 30% over previous carbon designs, says Mr. Koshiya.

"The immediate benefit of carbon components in drones is the achievement of longer flight times, which remain problematic for multi-copter type vehicles," he says.

Carbon also brings the benefit of corrosion resistance and near maintenance-free operation.

Carbon fiber composites demand is also being boosted by usage in helicopters, body armor, helmets, space shuttles, radomes, rocket motor casings, satellites, antenna dishes, and missiles. This suggests that there might be many more civilian uses for carbon-composite drones assigned to hazardous jobs that humans would hasten to avoid.

"At this point I know more about golf clubs than drones," adds Mr. Koshiya. "Just like with the Dreamliner, it probably won't be possible to make every drone component out of carbon, but the potential for weight, cost and fuel savings will make every ounce count."