By www.cfrp.com.cn

帝人公司的碳纤维复合材料(CFRP)大批量生产技术获得Frost&Sullivan的2011全球汽车碳纤维复合材料创新奖。



“帝人新的CFRP压缩成型技术提供了一种低成本、高性能的汽车白车身大型金属结构件替代技术。”Frost&Sullivan高级研究分析师SandeepanMondal评价说,“显著减少的的循环周期,以及高经济性的树脂中间体材料以及高的可加工性,为加工商提供了更广泛的设计自由度,并使帝人成为汽车碳纤维复合材料领域的领导者。”
帝人的创新使得成型汽车车身部件的成型周期显著缩短,不到1min。传统的CFRP使用热固性树脂生产同样的零件,至少需要5min,因而难以适应普通汽车大批量生产的应用要求,只能用于高端汽车生产。帝人通过使用热塑性CFRP,消除了工业化生产的一大挑战,并将碳纤维在汽车工业的应用带到一个全新的高度。

此前日本帝人公司宣布,该公司已拥有了一项用于碳纤维增强塑料(CFRP)的大规模生产技术,使得一次生产循环所用的时间不到1 min。帝人公司的新技术包括使用压机成型工艺,以及采用热塑性树脂替代传统的热固性树脂制成的中间预浸料。帝人公司表示,该公司还开发了一种焊接技术,既可以将热塑性碳纤维复合材料部件连接起来,也可以将热塑性碳纤维复合材料与金属连接起来,从而有助于在生产过程中减少对金属的使用。帝人公司称,该公司计划开发大批量生产的汽车用碳纤维复合材料部件,以及许多其他需要一定结构强度水平的部件。

目前,帝人公司已经开发出了3种由热塑性树脂浸渍碳纤维的中间材料,它们适合于在大规模生产的车辆中使用。这些材料可以根据所需的强度和部件的成本,进行选择性的使用,并且它们可以由各种热塑性树脂生产而出,包括聚丙烯和聚酰胺。这3种中间材料包括:
1.单向中间材料:在某一个方向有超高的强度。
2.各向同性的中间材料:在形状灵活性和多方向强度之间达到了平衡。
3.长纤维热塑性塑料颗粒:一种用碳纤维制成的高强度颗粒,用于复杂零部件的注塑成型。

为了展示其最新的技术,帝人公司已开发出了一种电动(EV)概念车,其特点是,车厢框架全部用热塑性碳纤维复合材料制成,质量只有47kg,大约是传统汽车车厢框架重量的1/5。这辆4座电动车的速度高达60km/h,行驶范围为100km。

帝人公司表示,该公司将以此概念向汽车制造商和零部件供应商介绍其碳纤维复合材料技术,以促进汽车轻量化的实现。帝人公司的目标是,通过向汽车市场供应碳纤维复合材料部件,来为其碳纤维复合材料业务建立新的中游和下游商业模式。


Teijin Recognized for Global Automotive Carbon Composites Technology Innovation by Frost & Sullivan

Tokyo, Japan, July 28, 2011 ---Teijin Limited announced today that its mass production technologies for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) have been recognized by Frost & Sullivan through their 2011 Global Automotive Carbon Composites Technology Innovation Award.

"Teijin's new CFRP compression molding technology offers a low cost-to-performance alternative, which makes it ideal for metal replacement in large structural body-in-white components," said Sandeepan Mondal, Senior Research Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "The drastically reduced cycle times along with the development of economical thermoplastic resin intermediate materials and high processability which gives processors greater design freedom, have paved the way for Teijin to be a technology leader in automotive carbon composites. These achievements of Teijin are deservedly recognized with the Frost & Sullivan 2011 Global Technology Innovation Award."

Teijin's innovation enables a significant reduction in cycle times – to under a minute – required for molding automobile body structure. Conventional CFRP utilizes thermosetting resin and requires at least five minutes for this process, making it unsuited for mass production applications, such as for general-purpose automobiles, and limiting its use to high-end vehicles. Teijin's breakthrough, achieved utilizing thermoplastic CFRP, overcomes one of the biggest challenges in the industry and represents a significant leap forward in the use of carbon fiber in mass production of automobiles.

With increasingly strict environmental standards and regulations in the automotive industry, there is mounting pressure to reduce vehicle weights through the use of lightweight materials, such as CFRP, for components conventionally made from steel or aluminum. The Teijin Group, the world's second largest producer of carbon fiber, is well positioned to be a leader in the development of such applications for CFRP.

"We are pleased that our automotive carbon fiber composite technologies were recognized by Frost & Sullivan as the industry leader," said Norio Kamei, general manager of Teijin's Carbon Fibers and Composites Business Group and president of Toho Tenax Co., Ltd. "The award is highly meaningful for us as we accelerate our expansion of advanced composite materials – one of the pillars of the Teijin Group's long-term growth strategy. We will further our efforts in this key field, aiming to facilitate new vehicle architecture featuring significantly lighter bodies."

Frost & Sullivan's Technology Innovation Award is presented each year to companies that demonstrate outstanding excellence in new products and technologies within its industry. The award recognizes the quality and depth of a company's development, based on solid groundwork, secondary resources and analyst feedback. Teijin's innovation was benchmarked against leading competitors in the industry, in terms of uniqueness of technology, impact on new products/applications, impact on functionality, impact on customer value and relevance of innovation to the industry. Frost & Sullivan is a growth consulting and a market research firm with operations worldwide.

About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 40 offices on six continents.

About the Teijin Group
Based in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, Teijin is a global technology-driven group operating in eight main fields: aramid fibers, carbon fibers & composites, polyester fibers, plastics, films, medical & pharmaceuticals, fiber products marketing and IT businesses. Teijin Limited, the holding company for the Teijin Group, is listed on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges. The group, comprising 150 companies and 17,542 employees worldwide, had consolidated sales of JPY 815.7 billion (USD 10.1 billion) and total assets of JPY 761.5 billion (USD 9.5 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011.