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Long Carbon Fiber Compounds
Going a step further in plastic reinforcement, Carbon Fibers clearly offset Glass Fibers in terms of lightweight and higher stiffness. The Japanese company Toray now offers Long Carbon Fiber Thermoplastic-based Compounds, which allow for even more weight reduction for new, tougher applications that are switching from metal to plastic. Carbon fibers have a history of use for thermoset-based composites. Having a worldwide leader moving to thermoplastic-based composites is a clear sign toward significant growth of the thermoplastic-based composites market segment. LCF thermoplastic compounds will push even further the plastic materials performance while keeping density as low as possible. A quick look at the technical data of a 30% LCF reinforced PA6 compound from Toray shows that with a density of no more than 1.25g/cm3, the flexural modulus reaches 20GPa. Toray already benefits from a strong market position in the composites industry as it produces and sells carbon fibers, prepregs, molded components, laminates and woven fabrics. But Toray also combines this composites know-how and strategic market position with its thermoplastic resins business activities. When meeting with Mr. Makoto Kobayashi, the European Technical Manager of the Resin Department of Toray, the question arose of why the company continues its compounding in-house to produce the LCF thermoplastics product range. The answer confirmed the combination of the strong Toray know-how in both thermoplastic resins and carbon fibers. But what also came out during this discussion is the importance of benefiting from deep CAE support, especially when replacing metal with polymeric materials. Toray provides its CAE expertise to re-design parts. This ensures composite parts will not only reach the required performance, but also optimize wall thicknesses to avoid over-designing the new part. This allows for more competitive products at the end, while pushing even further performances and weight reduction.
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