Mitsubishi Chemical's research and development of carbon fiber new materials can be reduced by half

Mitsubishi Chemical has introduced a new type of carbon fiber composite material , which is used to make automotive parts at half the cost of existing materials, which will bring bright prospects to the powerful and lightweight components of the mass market in the future.

It is reported that the above carbon fiber composite material can be obtained by immersing a carbon fiber fabric in a resin which is covered with fibers having a length of 2-3 cm. The resin material is easy to mold and soft before processing, so that the parts required for the car can be obtained by a molding process after rapid processing (usually after 2-5 minutes).

Mitsubishi Chemical uses short carbon fiber to produce 3,000 tons of composite materials per year in Japan and 1,000 tons of composite materials in Europe. Mitsubishi Chemical plans to invest about 1 billion yen (about 61.61 million yuan) in 2018 to build a factory in the United States that can produce thousands of tons of products. It is understood that Mitsubishi Group acquired a US startup with strong composite material design technology through its subsidiary Mitsubishi Rayon in March.

Carbon fiber materials are much lighter than steel and are therefore an excellent choice for improving vehicle fuel efficiency. However, conventional carbon fiber materials use fibers that are up to several meters long and take about 10 minutes to make into automotive parts. Low production efficiency, coupled with the use of carbon fiber to make auto parts, the cost is higher than aluminum or steel parts, so traditionally, carbon fiber parts are only suitable for the price of not less than 5 million yen (about 308,100 yuan) High-end car.

Volkswagen affordable carbon fiber composite

If Mitsubishi Chemical continues to innovate, then automakers can use the carbon fiber composite structural components on mid-range cars priced at about 3 million yen. At present, Mitsubishi has provided samples to US and European automakers, hoping to achieve the goal of applying this material to 10 models by 2020. The French JEC Group expects that from 2016 to 2020, with the continuous improvement of related technologies, the market share of carbon fiber composite materials in the automotive industry will increase by 80%, from 135,000 tons to 240,000 tons.

At this stage, Japan's Toray Industries, Teijin and Mitsubishi Chemical jointly hold 60% of the global carbon fiber market share. However, European manufacturers have traditionally dominated the market for composites made from substrates and technologies for processing carbon fiber components. Japanese companies have turned to acquisitions to improve their position in the midstream and downstream business markets. In January, Teijin snapped up US carbon fiber auto parts manufacturer CSP for $825 million (about 5.652 billion yuan), and Toray Industries acquired composites manufacturers in Italy and other countries.

Today, carbon fiber composites are considered to be the primary structure used to make aircraft, such as the Boeing 787, which uses carbon fiber composites. However, the application of this material is still relatively new in the automotive field, and it has caused fierce competition in car companies that want to make their products become the industry standard. Mitsui Chemicals Co., Ltd. is looking for suitable candidates with its subsidiaries, and Toray Industries is also developing technologies that can embed short carbon fibers into composite materials.