Textile Company to Revamp Automotive Carbon Fiber Industry

A Japanese textile company said that it found the way to ease the process of building carbon fiber cars, although auto manufacturers from all over the world invested millions of dollars in similar researches. Carbon fiber tends to become more important in the automotive industry as it can easily replace standard materials used in cars but providing lower weight combined with lower fuel consumption and enhanced impact protection.

Paradoxically and contrary to what you may expect, the automotive carbon fiber industry may be revamped by a textile company which states that its method could reduce “the time needed to mold a carbon fiber compound into auto platforms can be reduced from 160 minutes to no less than 10 minutes,” according to a report signed by Japan Today.

Obviously, such an advanced technology would reduce the total time needed to build a whole car, a fact that could allow carmakers to raise the number of units built in a certain amount of time.

“The new method, which takes advantage of improved resin infiltration and hardening technologies, allows the production of a platform that is 50% lighter than one made of steel but is 1.5 times safer in a collision”, representatives of Toray Industries Inc. were quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

Although it may sound like milk and honey, there’s still one major problem: money. Carbon fiber costs much more than steel sheets used in mass-production cars so, even if it provides a couple of advantages, such an investment could raise the final price of the car. Carbon fiber has already been used in racing events, numerous companies adopting this type of material to reduce the total weight of cars and obviously improve the engine's performance.