Teijin Co., Ltd. announced the launch of lightweight, strong and cost-effective carbon fiber woven fabrics developed using the company's proprietary tow unfolding technology.
Made from 3K (3,000) carbon fiber filament yarn, this new woven fabric is suitable for applications requiring low weight and design flexibility, such as automotive interior materials and sporting goods. Using its in-house tow unwinding technology, Teijin successfully thinned the 3K fabric from a formed thickness of 0.2mm to about 0.15mm, the same thickness as the 1K woven fabric when formed into carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).
Due to the flat undulations of the fabric's intersecting yarns, CFRP made with Teijin's new fabric has excellent smoothness and is more stable in strength than CFRP made with 1K carbon fiber woven fabric (according to in-company research). In addition, the high efficiency of Teijin's special tow unwinding technology reduces fabric costs to less than that of conventional 1K carbon fiber woven fabrics. Additionally, despite using 3K yarn (200g/m2), Teijin has reduced weight by 35%, similar to fabrics made with 1K yarn (125g/m2).
Teijin will now market its new fabric to industrial and sports goods makers. Along with other stretched tow carbon fiber woven fabrics in Teijin's portfolio. Going forward, Teijin will continue to strengthen its carbon fiber product lineup with other innovative high-performance materials and solutions. The long-term vision is to be a company that supports the society of the future.
Strong, lightweight CFRP is widely used to improve performance and reduce weight in aircraft, industrial and sports applications. By relaxing the stress concentrations imposed on the carbon fibers, the stable strength required to improve the mechanical properties of CFRP can be achieved, resulting in smoother carbon fiber fabrics for use as reinforcements. While finer and finer carbon fiber filament yarns are used to produce finer and finer woven fabrics, the difficulty of producing such yarns increases the cost of these fabrics.