Teijin unveils advanced spread

Aug 21, 2023

Teijin Limited launched a lightweight, strong and cost-effective carbon fiber woven fabric developed with the company's proprietary tow-spreading technology. Carbon fiber "tow" is the thread used to weave carbon fiber fabrics; two-spreading spreads the fiber into a thinner, flatter reinforcement.

The new woven fabric is made with 3K (3,000) carbon fiber filament yarn for applications requiring low weight and design flexibility, such as automotive interior materials and sporting goods.

Properties of Teijin's new spread-tow carbon fiber.

Teijin, using its in-house tow-spreading technology, succeeded in thinning the 3K fabric from a molding thickness of 0.2 mm to approximately 0.15 mm—the same as that of 1K woven fabric, when molded into carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).

Due to the flat undulations of the fabric's intersecting yarns, CFRP made with Teijin's new fabric offers superior smoothness, resulting in more stable strength compared to CFRP made with 1K carbon fiber woven fabric (according to the company's in-house research).

In addition, the high efficiency of Teijin's special tow-spreading technology lowers the fabric cost below that of conventional 1K carbon fiber woven fabric. Furthermore, despite using 3K yarn (200g/m2), Teijin reduced the weight by 35%, similar to fabric made with 1K yarn (125g/m2).

Teijin will now market its new fabric to manufacturers of industrial and sports products. Together with other spread-tow carbon fiber woven fabrics in the Teijin portfolio, the company is targeting sales of JPY 2 billion (US$17.4 million) in fiscal 2030.

Posted on 21 February 2022 in Market Background, Materials | Permalink | Comments (0)