Japan's NEDO pioneered carbon fiber prepreg that can be cured within 30 seconds and can be stored at room temperature

NEDO, Japan's new energy industry technology comprehensive development agency, announced that it has developed a rapidly curable carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheet that can be cured within 30 seconds, the shortest time in the world, and can be stored at room temperature
.
Carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRP) are increasingly used as automotive body materials, but compared with existing metal materials, CFRP has higher material cost and slower molding speed, so the cost is higher
.

The purpose of developing fast-curing carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheets is to promote the application and mass production of CFRP in the automotive field by solving these problems
.
As one of the theme projects of NEDO's "Strategic Energy-Saving Technology Innovation Plan/Practical Development Stage", three enterprises and institutions, Japan's DIC Co.
, Ltd.
, Seiren Co.
, Ltd.
, and Fukui Industrial Technology Center, have been working on "Carbon Fiber for Vehicles" since July 2018.
The "Practical Development of High Speed ​​Curing Prepreg for Composite Materials" project was a 3-year research effort
.
During the project development process, DIC Co.
, Ltd.
developed "high-speed curing resin" using its polymer design technology, Seiren Co.
, Ltd.
developed "high-precision impregnation technology" using resin film-forming and coating technology, and Fukui Industrial Technology Center developed "Air Spreading Technology" for rapid thinning of fiber bundles
.
The carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheet achieves the shortest curing time of 30 seconds, reaching the fastest level in the world; greatly reduces the process cycle, and the molding time is one third to one sixth of ordinary epoxy resin-based products, reducing production costs ; In addition, general epoxy-based prepregs need to be stored in freezer/refrigerated warehouses, etc.
, but the fast-curing prepregs developed this time can be stored at room temperature, reducing storage equipment and management burdens
.

Rapid-curing carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheets have established mass production processes.
In order to meet more diverse needs, NEDO has set recommended molding conditions for compression molding, double-belt compression molding, and sheet winding molding
.
From July 2021, NEDO will begin providing sheet samples using the demonstration line running in Seiren
.

In the future, NEDO will conduct mass production of prepreg sheets on this demonstration line, continue to provide trial samples to customers, and promote the commercialization of prepreg sheets in automotive and other fields by improving productivity
.