Japanese Company Cuts Time Needed to Make Carbon Fiber Autobody Parts

Toray Industries, Inc., a leading Japanese manufacturer of fibers and chemicals, announced on October 21, 2008, that it has cut to ten minutes the time it takes to mold the front floor of an auto platform out of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).

CFRP is about 50 percent lighter than steel, meaning that an automobile made with CFRP is lighter and more fuel-efficient than a regular vehicle. Using CFRP instead of steel also makes a vehicle 1.5 times safer in a collision. Toray and Nissan Motor Co. have been cooperating in the challenge to develop molding technologies to incorporate CFRP into large-scale, complex-mechanism products while shortening the manufacturing time, a project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The conventional method of producing molds first involves a carbon fiber pre-form, which is a bunch of layered sheets cut according to the shape of the parts to be molded from CFRP. The pre-form is then placed inside the mold and resin is injected into it and made to harden. By developing an improved resin and introducing new technologies into the production process, Toray was able to revise the whole process and succeeded in establishing an automatic molding system to mass-produce CFRP components.

These newly developed technologies can be utilized in many areas, such as aircraft production, and the company intends to continue its research and development towards commercialization.

- Toray Industries Inc. official website
http://www.toray.com/

Posted: 2009/01/03 06:00:15 AM