In 2011, Teijin built a four-seater concept car with Teijin's Carbon Fibre Reinforced Thermoplastic (CFRTP) body structure. The body was formed in one minute and weighs only 47kg, merely a fifth of a comparable steel structure.

Carbon fibre has 10 times the strength but just a fourth of the weight of steel. Composite materials made of carbon fibres and resins are already widely used to reduce the weight of aircraft and other industrial materials. However, conventional thermoset-formed carbon fibre composites are rarely seen in mass production due to its slow takt time, the company reports.

In order to tackle this problem, Teijin has developed a thermoplastic resin that is said to soften when heat is applied and quickly harden when it cools, without losing its desirable properties. Not only does that make the material ideal for mass production applications, the manufacturer believes, but it also means it can be recycled and reused.

Accelerating mass production

Teijin has branded this world N"s first CFRTP technology as Sereebo, an acronym for Save the Earth, Revolutionary and Evolutionary Carbon, and is now bringing it closer to commercial use in high-volume production.

Teijin is currently working with automakers worldwide, including General Motors, to accelerate development of Sereebo branded composites for mass production of reduced weight vehicles that meet demand for energy savings and CO2 reductions.

Collaborative effort

Teijin is spearheading the collaborative effort, which involves technical facilities in both Japan and the USA and a pilot plant in Japan.

Collaborative developments with consumer electronics makers and precision equipment makers are also in progress, and Nikon has already adopted Sereebo to manufacture structural parts for a digital SLR camera.

Teijin Group

Teijin is a technology driven group offering advanced solutions in the areas of sustainable transportation, information and electronics, safety and protection, environment and energy, and healthcare.

Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibres such as aramid, carbon fibres and composites, healthcare, films, resin and plastic processing, polyester fibres, products converting and IT. The group has some 150 companies and around 16,000 employees spread out over 20 countries worldwide.

www.teijin.com