Japanese technology group Toho Tenax (Tokyo; www.tohotenax.com), part of the carbon fibres and composites business of Teijin (Tokyo; www.teijin.com), has developed a flame-retardant, high-modulus thermoplastic textile prepreg. The material uses “Tenax” thermoplastic woven fabric as a base and has a high level of impregnation with polyethersulphone resin, resulting in more than 55% carbon fibre content. This, said the company, delivers high flame retardancy and robust mechanical properties. It can be used to produce high-performance carbon-fibre reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP) in rolls with a diameter of 1 m. Sample shipments started this month.

Initially, Toho Tenax plans to use the new textile prepreg to develop CFRTP for consumer electronics, medical equipment and sporting goods. Further applications will be developed for industrial equipment and aircraft, as well as other promising areas. The group said it is also currently developing new CFRTP applications for mass production and expects the textile prepreg to deliver a wide variety of solutions across multiple industries due to its high-performance characteristics.

Toho Tenax has also developed a rapid heat and cool press-moulding technology that can produce CFRTP in a cycle time of just four minutes, which it said is significantly shorter than the long processing times required for CFRP based on a thermoset resin such as epoxy. The company said it is continuing to develop technology to achieve even shorter cycle times.

In addition, the new prepreg can be stored long-term at room temperature, unlike typical thermoset prepregs, which require refrigeration, and can be recycled into pellets for injection moulding. It also meets the flammability safety standard UL94 V-0 and will be certified by June 2016.