NEDO, Japan's new energy industry technology comprehensive development agency, announced that it has developed a rapidly curable carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheet, which can be cured in 30 seconds, which is the shortest time in the world and can be stored at room temperature. Carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRP) are used more and more as automobile body materials, but compared with existing metal materials, CFRP has higher material cost and slower forming speed, so the cost is higher. The purpose of developing rapid curing carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheet 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 of DIC Co., Ltd., SEIREN Co., Ltd. and Fukui industrial technology center of Japan have conducted three-year research work on the project of "practical development of high-speed curing prepreg for automotive carbon fiber composites" since July 2018.
During the research and development of the project, DIC Co., Ltd. developed "high-speed curing resin" by using its polymer design technology, SEIREN Co., Ltd. developed "high-precision impregnation technology" by using resin film-forming and coating technology, and Fukui Industrial Technology Center developed "air fiber expansion technology" for rapidly thinning fiber bundles. The shortest curing time of carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheet is 30 seconds, reaching the fastest level in the world; Greatly reduce the process cycle, the molding time is one third to one sixth of that of ordinary epoxy resin based products, and reduce the production cost; In addition, general epoxy based prepregs need to be stored in frozen / refrigerated warehouses, but the developed rapid curing prepregs can be stored at room temperature to reduce the burden of storage equipment and management.
Mass production process has been established for rapid curing carbon fiber reinforced prepreg sheet. In order to meet more diversified needs, NEDO has set recommended forming conditions for molding, double strip pressing and sheet winding respectively. From July 2021, NEDO will begin to provide sheet samples using the demonstration line running in SEIREN.
In the future, NEDO will carry out mass production of prepreg sheets on this demonstration line, continue to provide trial samples for customers, and promote the commercialization and popularization of prepreg sheets in automobile and other fields by improving productivity.
