Toray has successfully developed a new type of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) prepreg for aviation. This prepreg can be used as an intermediate material for vacuum forming of non-autoclave tanks to prepare primary structural components of new aircraft. In the future, Toray will deepen the application of this new technology in the aircraft, automotive and general industrial fields, reduce manufacturing costs, and meet the growing demand for high-performance CFRP components.
First-level structural parts such as the main wing and fuselage of civil aircraft usually adopt autoclave process to realize CFRP prepreg molding. The advantages of autoclave molding are that it can manufacture all kinds of complex components, excellent parts quality and high molding accuracy. However, the initial investment of autoclave equipment is large, and the production efficiency is low, which is not conducive to the promotion and application of CFRP and continuous manufacturing.
Toray started research in the field of non-autoclave forming technology, and last year successfully developed CFRP vacuum forming manufacturing technology using only atmospheric pressure. This time successfully developed a prepreg suitable for vacuum forming technology. Compared with the components of autoclave molding using traditional prepregs, the aircraft primary structural components made of the new matrix resin's new prepregs have basically the same values of compressive strength and tensile strength after impact.
Using this new type of prepreg, an analog part of an aircraft wing part with a length of 2 meters is prepared, and the porosity is extremely low compared with the product made by the traditional prepreg. The test results show that the simulation part meets strict CFRP aerospace component quality control standards no matter from dimensional accuracy or internal quality.
The above contents are part of the results of the "Strategic Innovation Project (SIP)-Revolutionary Structural Materials" project led by the Japan Comprehensive Research Institute "Comprehensive Science and Technology-Innovation Conference (CSTI)" (management company: Japan Science and Technology Agency).