Responding to Europe’s rapidly growing demand for carbon fibre and composite materials, Mitsubishi Rayon (MRC, Tokyo / Japan; www.mrc.co.jp) has established a European representative office at Mitsubishi Chemical Europe’s (MCC, www.m-kagaku.co.jp) offices in Düsseldorf / Germany. Initially manned by just one officer and several part-time staff, the new office will promote the co-development of intermediate materials with local partners, participate in industry-government-academia projects and strengthen MRC’s relationships with end-users. MRC’s range of “Grafil” and “Pyrolfil” carbon fibres will continue to be marketed and sold in Europe through the UK office of MRC subsidiary Grafil (Sacramento, California / USA; www.grafil.com).

MRC says the reason it chose to open its new offices in Germany is the above-average growth of the carbon fibre and composites market here. Leading drivers include the automotive sector, like BMW’s new “i series” electric vehicle, for example, whose structural components require extensive carbon fibre fabrics. Many of these will be produced by SGL Automotive Carbon Fibres, which in turn is supplied by MRC-SGL Precursor, a joint venture between MRC and the SGL Group (Wiesbaden / Germany; www.sglcarbon.com) that manufactures the acrylic fibre that serves as the raw material for carbon fibre precursors (see Plasteurope.com of 28.04.2011).

Another key driver are wind turbine manufacturers. MRC points out that Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear power will see a spike in demand for carbon fibre composites to use in new offshore wind farms.