Recently, Mitsui Chemical has cooperated with Formosa Plastics to promote the commercial operation of carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene unidirectional plates and strips. The brand name is Tafnex. Among them, Formosa Plastics provides Mitsui Chemical with carbon fiber treated with special sizing agent for processing into unidirectional sheet and strip products.

       Although it is generally believed in the industry that it is not an appropriate way to combine expensive carbon fibers with relatively low cost PP resin to form composite materials, Mitsui Chemical believes that quality and cost can be balanced by purchasing carbon fibers from Taiwan with relatively low price.

       Mitsui Chemical believes that the components formed by injection molding and glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composite can provide the required strength for the car lift door by attaching and combining them. In addition, Mitsui Chemical has also developed a unique filament winding process to manufacture polypropylene composite pipes using aluminum cores, which can not only be used as automobile beams, but also integrate various polypropylene composite sub assemblies. These sub components are naturally attached to the pipe by attachment molding.

       In order to promote the industrial application of this technology, Mitsui Chemical has set up a production line in Nagoya, Japan, which is planned to start operation in April 2019. The second production line is also in the process of preparation. It is reported that due to the problem of flame retardancy, Japanese automobile manufacturers are not keen on the widespread application of carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene composites. However, the situation in Europe is quite different, because there are more OEMs with small batch production. Mitsui Chemical plans to exploit the European automobile market with the help of ARRK Corp, a design company acquired last year.

       At the same time, Mitsui Chemical also said that European sports car manufacturers showed strong interest in this. In another project related to carbon fiber in Japan, Toyo Oriental Molding (located in Saitama Prefecture) has developed a production technology of carbon fiber polypropylene composite, which uses low viscosity polyurethane lotion to prevent fiber fracture.

       These new technologies will enable carbon fiber polypropylene composites to compete better with thermosetting composites. According to Mitsui Chemical, the carbon fiber polypropylene composite insert can be combined with the glass fiber polypropylene composite lift door to provide customers with a cost-effective solution.