Toho Tenax develops super-heat-resistant prepreg suited for automotive engine compartments

6 November 2014

Toho Tenax Co., Ltd., the core company of the Teijin Group’s carbon fibers and composites business, has developed a new prepreg (carbon fiber sheet pre-impregnated with matrix resin) that offers super-high-heat and -oxidation resistance suited to automotive and aircraft engine compartments.

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The new bismaleimide resin pre-impregnated prepreg does not reach glass-transition below 320˚ thanks to Toho Tanax’s original resin-formulation technology. It also maintains oxidation resistance without heat cracks under continuous use in the range of upper 200˚.

Prepregs, which are used as intermediate materials of carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs), are generally impregnated with lightweight high intensity epoxy resin. Conventional bismaleimide resin-impregnated prepreg has been already used for high-temperature applications such as automotive and motorbike engine compartments, but it degrades due to resin oxidation after continuous use at high temperatures, including the formation of microcracks after repeated heat expansion and contraction.

Toho Tenax, which has been developing technologies for new prepregs suited to aircraft, is now expanding the scope to include other high-heat applications, such as automotive.

To further expand its carbon fibers and composites business, Toho Tenax also intends to develop CFRP technologies to explore new applications in downstream industries, including materials for structural parts.