In a deal aimed at meeting the growing thermoplastic prepreg demand from the aerospace industry, Toray Industries (Tokyo / Japan; www.toray.com) and the Advanced Composites business of Royal Ten Cate (Nijverdal / The Netherlands; www.tencate.com) have signed a five year agreement for the supply of carbon fibres.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Japanese group will supply TenCate Advanced Composites with high performance carbon fibres for use in the latter’s “Cetex RTL” composite materials. The Cetex portfolio comprises different materials made of PPS, PEI and PEEK among others, as well as aramid, glass and carbon fibre reinforcements.

Welcoming the agreement, Frank Meurs, director of TenCate Advanced Composites EMEA, said: “This long term supply agreement fits to our needs, because it covers our long-term needs based on contracts with for instance Airbus for the production of the Airbus aircraft.”

Aside from the supply of carbon fibre, the two companies also agreed to study a joint market-product development in thermoplastic composites used for automotive applications.