Montefibre Carbon (Miranda de Ebro, Spain) announced that its 80K carbon fiber is expected to be available in mid-2020, aiming to become the new standard for industrial tow carbon fiber. Montefibre's carbon fiber precursors are produced from a unique polyacrylonitrile (PAN) formulation that is said to give carbon fibers high resistance, high modulus of elasticity, and low density, and can be converted into very hard and lightweight high-performance composites.
Montefibre S.p.A is an Italian synthetic fiber manufacturer with its headquarters in Milan, Italy. In 2015, it was acquired by the Spanish investment group Praedium. Renamed Montefibre Carbon in 2018, transforming the business from polyacrylonitrile fibers to carbonized polyacrylonitrile fibers only.
The original Montefibre 80K product line includes the M500 and M600, both of which are used for non-aerospace applications and have standard modulus (SM). These series are designed to provide affordable prices and excellent fiber quality for high volume applications.
The Montefibre 80-M500-SM series is designed to produce standard industrial grade carbon fiber T300, with a tensile strength of 500 ksi (3.5 Gpa) and a modulus of 33 msi (230 Gpa). It is mainly designed for compression molding of sheet molding compound (SMC), injection molded pellets and milling for 3D printing and construction.
Montefibre 80-M600-SM is designed to produce high-quality carbon fiber with a tensile strength of 600 ksi (4.1 Gpa) and a modulus of 34 msi (235 Gpa). It is mainly used for pultrusion, unidirectional (UD) tape, non-woven ( NCF) prepreg and winding.
"The tests we conducted last year showed that the M500 and M600 series have excellent heat distribution, enabling high performance and low energy consumption in traditional oxidation and carbonization lines," said Dr. María Simon, director of research at Montefibre Carbon.
A Montefibre 80K fiber production line will be commissioned in mid-2020, with an annual capacity of 3,000 tons of PAN precursors. The other two production lines will begin operation in 2021, with an initial capacity of 11,000 tons per year, which can be converted into approximately 5,000 tons of carbon fiber.
The company said the Montefibre M500 and M600 series are not subject to export restrictions because they are not precursors to carbon fiber for aerospace or defense.
Montefibre Carbon President Alfonso Cirera said: "The new M500 and M600 of 80K will make carbon fiber universal, thereby expanding steel, aluminum and glass fiber substitution in many applications outside the aerospace market, such as marine, construction or automotive . "
In addition to the 80K developed by itself, MonteFibre Carbon also collaborated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Knoxville, Tennessee, USA) to develop an ultra-wide carbon fiber with 320K and 480K industrial cables. The fiber is expected to be on the market in 2021 and will be produced at a plant in Knoxville.
MonteFibre and its production plant in Miranda de Ebro, Spain, were acquired by Praedium, an investment group owned by Alfonso Cirera Santasusana, in 2015. The company owns the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) -based carbon fiber precursor technology developed by Monsanto of Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, in the late 1950s. All of these technologies are now the exclusive property of Monsanto Carbon Fibers. Development of a series of carbon fibers was completed in two years. Fibers that meet the needs of the composites industry. Montefiber Carbon's plan is to become the first independent manufacturer of carbon fiber precursors, reaching an output of about 33,000 tons per year by 2025, accounting for about 12% of the expected global output in 2025. Demand for industrial use. In the long run, the goal is to reach a capacity of 75,000 tons of precursors and bring about 35,000 tons of carbon fiber to the market.