A recent agreement with Canadian aircraft and trains manufacturer Bombardier (Montréal, Québec; www.bombardier.com) is expected to yield more international trade for carbon fibre producer and prepreg specialist Hengshen Fibre (Danyang, Jiangsu / China; www.hscarbonfibre.com).

Bombardier has been testing the Chinese manufacturer’s materials since 2015, and now ended the experimental phase with a positive conclusion. The new partnership aims to get official certification from aviation authorities. If successful, prepregs could be utilised in aircraft applications. Hengshen would then be the first Chinese supplier in a field that is commonly dominated by companies like Cytec, Toray or Hexcel.

According to Hengshen, the company’s annual production capacity for carbon fibres lies at around 5,000 t, including 3K, 6K and 12K filaments. Subsequent products include unidirectional and multi-axial carbon fibres and fabrics, yielding up to 500,000 m² as well as prepregs. Depending on the application, resins based on epoxy, bismaleimide, cyanate ester and benzoxazines, are used as matrix materials. Since 2012, the Chinese company maintains a branch office in Europe, in Southampton / UK.