Toray develops to help mass-produce carbon fiber cars

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Major Japanese textile maker Toray Industries Inc has developed a carbon fiber-processing method that paves the way for mass production of lightweight, fuel-efficient automobiles made with the material.

The company said that using the method, the time needed to mold a carbon fiber compound into auto platforms can be shortened to 10 minutes from 160 minutes.

The new method, which takes advantage of improved resin infiltration and hardening technologies, allows the production of a platform that is 50% lighter than one made of steel but is 1.5 times safer in a collision, Toray said.

The shorter molding process allows an automaker to make platforms for some 30,000 vehicles a year, according to Toray.

Meanwhile, high costs still remain a major hurdle for mass production of carbon fiber-based vehicles. Carbon fibers cost several thousand yen per kilogram, far higher than 100 yen for the same amount of steel sheets, and their use has so far been limited to racing cars.

In addition, the 10-minute molding time is still longer than only several minutes for metal.

Toshihide Sekido, general manager of Toray’s Advanced Composites Development Center, said at a press conference that a full-fledged commercialization of carbon fiber auto platforms may be four to five years away.

Still, the latest achievement is “certain to add momentum to Toray’s carbon fiber business expansion,” Akihiko Kitano, general manager of Toray’s Composite Materials Research Laboratories, said at the same press conference.

Toray is hoping to expand annual sales at its automotive division, covering carbon fiber and plastic products, to 350 billion yen by 2015, a 2.5-fold jump from the current level.

The company’s project to develop carbon fiber-based auto parts is backed by the government-affiliated New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, or NEDO.