TEXTILES.ORG
Teijin Ltd. has announced that its mass production technologies for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) have been selected by this year’s ICIS Innovation Awards as the overall winner, as well as the recipient of the Best Product Innovation award. The ICIS Innovation Awards, now in their eighth year, are organized by ICIS, the chemical publishing arm of Reed Business Information in the United Kingdom. The awards recognize companies that make significant contributions to the fields of technology and business.
“The ICIS Innovation Awards continue to highlight the best the chemical industry has to offer in the way of innovation and solutions to society’s needs. This year, there was a significant emphasis on technologies designed to reduce and replace fossil fuel usage and cut carbon emissions. Indeed, most entries focused on helping the environment and maintaining the sustainability of the chemical industry, while at the same time helping customers and driving bottom line growth. Teijin’s entry was no exception,” said John Baker, global editor at ICIS and manager of the ICIS Innovation Awards.
The award recognizes Teijin’s innovative technologies, which significantly reduce the cycle time required for molding automotive body structures to under a minute, as a significant milestone and a big step toward the use of carbon fiber in the mass production of automobiles and other applications. The new technologies include intermediate materials made of thermoplastic resin instead of conventional thermosetting resin for molding CFRP, and methods for welding thermoplastic CFRP parts together and for bonding CFRP with other materials such as steel.
“We are delighted that the ICIS Innovation Awards have recognized our innovative automotive carbon fiber composite technologies,” said Norio Kamei, general manager of Teijin’s Carbon Fibers and Composites Business. “Our innovation originated from the idea of how we could expand the use of carbon fiber composites to mass-production industrial applications. We will further our development, aiming to expand the advanced carbon fiber composite market and help realize new vehicle architecture featuring significantly lighter bodies.”
Teijin previously received an ICIS Innovation Award—Innovation with Best Environmental Benefit—for its ECO CIRCLE closed-loop recycling system for polyester in 2010.