Teijin Corp. is committed to becoming the world's fourth largest manufacturer of carbon fiber intermediate materials for aircraft. With multiple production lines including thermoset and thermoplastic prepregs and non-curl fabrics (NCF), the company is striving to become a leading supplier to aircraft manufacturers.
Shukei Inui, general manager of Teijin's carbon fiber business unit, said that the company's NCF materials have gradually been recognized by aircraft manufacturers, and new progress has been made in thermoplastic prepreg applications. In the future, small aircraft will continue to be popularized to meet more popular needs. The market prospect of such aircraft is promising, which means that traditional manufacturing methods-thermoset prepregs formed using autoclaves-will not meet the production cycle requirements.
To accelerate the molding cycle, the aircraft manufacturing industry is expected to increase demand for thermoplastic prepregs. In order to meet this development trend, a thermoplastic laminate based on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) developed by Teijin, Tenax TPCL, has been used on Airbus aircraft. Recently, the carbon fiber thermoplastic unidirectional prepreg tape (Tenax TPUD) developed by Teijin was approved by Boeing. Regarding the thermoset products business, Teijin announced earlier this year that it has agreed to acquire Renegade Materials Corp. in the United States, which has a good track record of producing polyimide prepregs and using these prepregs around engines. At the same time, Teijin has also developed a prepreg product based on bismaleimide, which has good heat resistance and impact resistance.