Auto-use carbon fiber development speeds up in Japan

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Major Japanese textile makers are stepping up development of carbon fiber materials for use in automobiles to reduce body weight and raise fuel efficiency for next-generation vehicles.

Demand for carbon fibers, which weigh one-quarter of steel but are 10 times stronger, is expected to grow among automakers as they look to enhance measures to combat global warming and deal with sky-high crude oil prices.

Toray Industries Inc. estimates that by using carbon fibers in components such as chassis, roof and hood, the weight of a 1,380-kilogram passenger car can be cut by 400 kilograms.

The key obstacle to the development is the hardness of carbon fibers, which makes molding and processing difficult, time-consuming and costly.

Because carbon fibers cost several thousand yen per kilogram, against 100 yen for steel sheets, their use has been limited mostly to luxury and racing cars.

As a result of research efforts by makers including Toray and Nissan Motor Co., the processing time for carbon fibers used in hood has been shortened to less than 10 minutes from 160 minutes. But officials say further improvement is needed so that carbon fibers can find applications in a wider range of automobiles.

In June, Toray launched a research and development base in Nagoya, central Japan, planning to start full-scale operations in September, in order to reduce costs and processing time further.

Teijin Ltd. acquired composite materials maker GH Craft Ltd. in July and built a R&D center on the premises of the subsidiary, aiming to overtake Toray through cooperation with its carbon fiber unit Toho Tenax Co.