MATERIALS | REINFORCEMENTS
the material properties of the resulting Twaron aramid yarn (the company produces its Twaron ultra-high-strength para-aramid fibres at a facility in the Netherlands).
Carbon developments The latest development from Toray Industries is a high tensile modulus carbon fibre that it plans to commercialise over the next few years as a fibre and as a thermoplastic pellet for injection moulding. Toray’s product line currently includes the
Torayca T series of high-strength carbon fibres for pressure vessel, aerospace, automotive and other industrial applications and Torayca T1100G carbon fibre, which offers a tensile strength of 7.0GPa and a tensile modulus of elasticity of 320GPa. In 2018 it commercialised Torayca M40X to expand the potential of carbon fibre for high-end sports equipment and aerospace structural. This is said to use nano-level fibre structure control to balance a tensile strength of 5.7GPa with a tensile modulus of 377GPa. However, the fibre diameter of 5.0 microns constrained productivity, which makes cost an issue. Toray has addressed this in the new develop- ment by optimising the Torayca MX series control technology to create 7.0 micron fibres with uniform internal structures. This results in a fibre with a tensile modulus of elasticity of 390GPa, around 70% higher than the standard level of Torayca offerings for industrial applications and delivering much better cost-performance. The company says that thermoplastic pellets
incorporating the newly developed carbon fibres maintain longer fibre lengths than conventional high tensile modulus offerings after moulding. As a result, the pellets can produce parts with a tensile modulus of up to 41GPa and a specific gravity of 1.4 (comparable to the 45GPa and specific gravity of 1.8 for magnesium alloys). It claims that using the pellets to make complex injection moulded parts could enhance productivity and contribute significantly to lightweighting. Reporting growing demand for carbon-rein-
forced compounds for electronics and medical applications in Europe, Germany-based Teijin Carbon Europe has increased production capacity for its chopped carbon fibre Tenax-E HT C604 6mm grade by 40%. The company says that demand for the C604 grade, which it says enables production of high-grade compounds with good mechanical properties and electrical conductivity, has increased significantly in recent years. That European demand has been met until recently by delivering the same grade from Teijin’s Mishima plant in Japan; the
40 COMPOUNDING WORLD | June 2021
Above: Koller Kunstofftechnik is producing hybrid composite windshield frames for BASF using carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic profiles from SGL
increased German capacity will mean it can now react more flexibly to local customers. Other Tenax short fibre products — chopped, pelletised or milled — are produced at facilities in Japan and the US. They are supplied in a variety of sizings. Last year, Zoltek released details of a produc-
tion-ready engine cover developed for Ford using its Zoltek PX35 carbon fibre in a PA66 compound. It resulted in a 24% weight saving over its aluminium predecessor and incorporated load limiters at all through bolt interfaces, threaded inserts at attach- ment points and an RTV seal. PX35 chopped fibre is frequently compounded with engineering thermoplastics such as PC, PA and high-tempera- ture thermoplastic resins such as PEEK and PEI. The chopped fibres are said to offer a high bulk density value, which makes for more consistent feeding, and to distribute easily during compounding.
Hybrid moulding Germany’s Koller Kunststofftechnik started produc- tion of skeletal injection moulded windshied frames at the end of last year for an undisclosed BMW car model using thermoplastic impregnated carbon fibre reinforced profiles supplied by SGL Carbon. The profiles will be produced by SGL using its 50k carbon fibre at its site at Innkreis, Austria, and subsequently processed into the windshield component by Koller using a hybrid injection moulding technique. The thermoplastic composite component is a
structural part that will replace the traditional steel element, which acts as a connecting element between the roof frames and provides a stabilising function. The carbon fibre profiles add the required
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: SGL CARBON
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