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Toho Tenax partakes in Icomposite 4.0 program

09 Mar '16

2 min read

Teijin Group subsidiary, Toho Tenax Europe is participating in a technology development project - Icomposite 4.0, the German initiative for a fourth-generation industrial revolution.

By participating in the program, Teijin Group aims to achieve improved production efficiency and expanded applications for its diverse lineup of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials.

Icomposite 4.0 was launched by 10 leading German organisations in January 2016 with support from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

The goals are to realise production cost reductions through 3D printing, resin-injection processes and intelligent-control systems to balance materials characteristics for minimised waste during production.

“Each part is embedded with an RFID chip that stores information about its production history to support quality control and production-system flow,” Teijin explained in the press release.

In Icomposite production, a part's basic structure is produced by a fibre spraying technology in the first stage.

To balance stresses, high-precision fibre bundles are then added, while resin transfer moulding (RTM) is used for the moulding process.

“Fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) materials are used widely to meet demands for lightweight production, but production using FRP results in large amounts of material waste and is felt to be inefficient,” the company noted.

Teijin's main fields of operation are high-performance fibres such as aramid, carbon fibres, composites, healthcare, films, resin & 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 and posted consolidated sales of ¥786.2 billion or $6.6 billion in fiscal ended March 31, 2015. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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