Toray Advanced Composites

Last updated
Toray Advanced Composites
Company type Public Company
Industry[Advanced composite materials (engineering)|Advanced composite materials]
HeadquartersInternational
Morgan Hill, California
European:
Nijverdal, Netherlands
BrandsToray Cetex thermoplastics, Toray AmberTool composite tooling materials, Toray MicroPly adhesives and syntactics, Toray CCS compression molded parts
Website http://www.toraytac.com/

Toray Advanced Composites (formerly TenCate Advanced Composites) is a multi-national producer and supplier of advanced composite materials. In the twentieth century, it developed a range of high-performance thermoplastic composites and thermoset pre-preg resins that are used today in a broad spectrum of applications.

Contents

As of September 2016, the company was listed as one of the top advanced polymer composite manufacturers in the global market. [1] It operates six manufacturing facilities in four countries. The corporate office for Toray Advanced Composites USA is located in Morgan Hill, CA, and the European corporate office is located in Nijverdal, the Netherlands. [2] They distribute the following composite products worldwide:

As of March 2016 it was privately held. [3] On March 14, 2018, Toray announced an agreement with Royal Ten Cate B.V. to acquire TenCate Advanced Composites for 930 million euros. The completion of the transaction occurred on July 17, 2018. [4] [5]

On March 12, 2019, TenCate Advanced Composites announced to change its name to Toray Advanced Composites at JEC World 2019. [6] [7]

Applications

Toray Advanced Composites' cyanate ester pre-pregs (fibers impregnated with resin) have been used on Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4, [8] NASA's LADEE mission, [9] as well as the first 3D woven composites NASA used in the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle. [10] Their TenCate Cetex® thermoplastics are found on commercial aircraft manufactured by Airbus, Boeing, Embraer, Fokker, and Gulfstream, [11] and their compression-molded parts are used in Bell's 525 Relentless and V-22 Osprey helicopters. [12] [13] Their materials have also been used to reduce vehicle weight to improve efficiency in London Underground's Central Line train, [14] Alfa Romeo's 4C, [15] and Brunel Racing's Formula Student car. [16]

Toray Advanced Composites is a Tier 1 member of the Thermoplastic Composites Research Center consortium. [17] Their thermoplastics are used in a variety research applications, including improvements in vehicular crash performance, [18] new circuit board materials for solar arrays, [19] and the development of a low-cost thermoplastic composite welding process. [20] Their materials are also used in a variety of recreational footwear, medical applications, and orthotic devices, including a prototype articulated brace designed to allow a paraplegic sky-diver greater control while flying. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composite material</span> Material made from a combination of two or more unlike substances

A composite material is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a material with properties unlike the individual elements. Within the finished structure, the individual elements remain separate and distinct, distinguishing composites from mixtures and solid solutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon fibers</span> Material fibers about 5–10 μm in diameter composed of carbon

Carbon fibers or carbon fibres are fibers about 5 to 10 micrometers (0.00020–0.00039 in) in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. Carbon fibers have several advantages: high stiffness, high tensile strength, high strength to weight ratio, high chemical resistance, high-temperature tolerance, and low thermal expansion. These properties have made carbon fiber very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, motorsports, and other competition sports. However, they are relatively expensive compared to similar fibers, such as glass fiber, basalt fibers, or plastic fibers.

Fiberglass or fibreglass is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth. The plastic matrix may be a thermoset polymer matrix—most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin, or vinyl ester resin—or a thermoplastic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thermosetting polymer</span> Polymer obtained by irreversibly hardening (curing) a resin

In materials science, a thermosetting polymer, often called a thermoset, is a polymer that is obtained by irreversibly hardening ("curing") a soft solid or viscous liquid prepolymer (resin). Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be promoted by high pressure or mixing with a catalyst. Heat is not necessarily applied externally, and is often generated by the reaction of the resin with a curing agent. Curing results in chemical reactions that create extensive cross-linking between polymer chains to produce an infusible and insoluble polymer network.

Pre-preg is a composite material made from "pre-impregnated" fibers and a partially cured polymer matrix, such as epoxy or phenolic resin, or even thermoplastic mixed with liquid rubbers or resins. The fibers often take the form of a weave and the matrix is used to bond them together and to other components during manufacture. The thermoset matrix is only partially cured to allow easy handling; this B-Stage material requires cold storage to prevent complete curing. B-Stage pre-preg is always stored in cooled areas since heat accelerates complete polymerization. Hence, composite structures built of pre-pregs will mostly require an oven or autoclave to cure. The main idea behind a pre-preg material is the use of anisotropic mechanical properties along the fibers, while the polymer matrix provides filling properties, keeping the fibers in a single system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compression molding</span> Method of molding

Compression molding is a method of molding in which the molding material, generally preheated, is first placed in an open, heated mold cavity. The mold is closed with a top force or plug member, pressure is applied to force the material into contact with all mold areas, while heat and pressure are maintained until the molding material has cured; this process is known as compression molding method and in case of rubber it is also known as 'Vulcanisation'. The process employs thermosetting resins in a partially cured stage, either in the form of granules, putty-like masses, or preforms.

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), sometimes referred to as thermoplastic rubbers (TPR), are a class of copolymers or a physical mix of polymers that consist of materials with both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toray Industries</span> Japanese chemicals company

Toray Industries, Inc. is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laminated glass</span> Type of safety glass with a thin polymer interlayer that holds together when shattered

Laminated glass is a type of safety glass consisting of two or more layers of glass with one or more thin polymer interlayers between them which prevent the glass from breaking into large sharp pieces. Breaking produces a characteristic "spider web" cracking pattern when the impact is not enough to completely pierce the glass.

Bulk moulding compound (BMC), bulk moulding composite, or dough moulding compound (DMC), is a ready-to-mold, glass-fiber reinforced thermoset polymer material primarily used in compression moulding, as well as in injection moulding and transfer moulding. Typical applications include demanding electrical applications, corrosion resistant needs, appliance, automotive, and transit.

Polymer engineering is generally an engineering field that designs, analyses, and modifies polymer materials. Polymer engineering covers aspects of the petrochemical industry, polymerization, structure and characterization of polymers, properties of polymers, compounding and processing of polymers and description of major polymers, structure property relations and applications.

A thermoset polymer matrix is a synthetic polymer reinforcement where polymers act as binder or matrix to secure in place incorporated particulates, fibres or other reinforcements. They were first developed for structural applications, such as glass-reinforced plastic radar domes on aircraft and graphite-epoxy payload bay doors on the Space Shuttle.

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers, carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers, carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic, also known as carbon fiber, carbon composite, or just carbon, are extremely strong and light fiber-reinforced plastics that contain carbon fibers. CFRPs can be expensive to produce, but are commonly used wherever high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness (rigidity) are required, such as aerospace, superstructures of ships, automotive, civil engineering, sports equipment, and an increasing number of consumer and technical applications.

In the field of composite materials, tufting is an experimental technology to locally reinforce continuous fibre-reinforced plastics along the z-direction, with the objective of enhancing the shear and delamination resistance of the structure.

In materials science, advanced composite materials (ACMs) are materials that are generally characterized by unusually high strength fibres with unusually high stiffness, or modulus of elasticity characteristics, compared to other materials, while bound together by weaker matrices. These are termed "advanced composite materials" in comparison to the composite materials commonly in use such as reinforced concrete, or even concrete itself. The high strength fibers are also low density while occupying a large fraction of the volume.

Avient Corporation is a global manufacturer of specialized polymer materials headquartered in Avon Lake, Ohio. Its products include thermoplastic compounds, plastic colorants and additives, thermoplastic resins, vinyl resins, thermoplastic composites and specialty thermoset composite materials.

Automated fiber placement (AFP), also known as advanced fiber placement, is an advanced method of manufacturing composite materials. These materials, which offer lighter weight with equivalent or greater strength than metals, are increasingly used in airframes and other industrial products.

Glass-filled polymer, is a mouldable composite material. It comprises short glass fibers in a matrix of a polymer material. It is used to manufacture a wide range of structural components by injection or compression moulding. It is an ideal glass alternative that offers flexibility in the part, chemical resistance, shatter resistance and overall better durability.

In materials science, a polymer matrix composite (PMC) is a composite material composed of a variety of short or continuous fibers bound together by a matrix of organic polymers. PMCs are designed to transfer loads between fibers of a matrix. Some of the advantages with PMCs include their light weight, high resistance to abrasion and corrosion, and high stiffness and strength along the direction of their reinforcements.

Covalent adaptable networks (CANs) are a type of polymer material that closely resemble thermosetting polymers (thermosets). However, they are distinguished from thermosets by the incorporation of dynamic covalent chemistry into the polymer network. When a stimulus (for example heat, light, pH, ...) is applied to the material, these dynamic bonds become active and can be broken or exchanged with other pending functional groups, allowing the polymer network to change its topology. This introduces reshaping, (re)processing and recycling into thermoset-like materials.

References

  1. ↑ QY Market Research, Global Advanced Polymer Composite Industry 2016, 2016-09. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  2. ↑ TenCate Advanced Composites About Us, tencate.com. Accessed 2017-02-09.
  3. ↑ "Delisting of TenCate shares on 17 March 2016". TenCate. 2016-02-18. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  4. ↑ "Toray to acquire TenCate Advanced Composites" (PDF). TenCate. 14 March 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on Jun 12, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Carbon Fiber Composite Materials | Archive by Segments | Press Releases". TORAY. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28.
  6. ↑ Richardson, Mike (2019-03-14). "TenCate changes its name to Toray Advanced Composites". Aerospace Manufacturing Magazine. Archived from the original on 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  7. ↑ "TenCate Advanced Composites changes its name to Toray Advanced Composites". Toray Advanced Composites. March 12, 2019. Archived from the original on Jan 26, 2024.
  8. ↑ Jenkins, Ann; Weiss, Mike (2008-06-20). "Mission to Hubble". NASA. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  9. ↑ "Leaner Budgets Boost Innovation in Small Satellite Design", Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, 2013-03-07. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  10. ↑ Eric Vitug, "First 3D woven composite for NASA thermal protection systems", NASA, 2016-03-29. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  11. ↑ "Program supplier analysis | TenCate Advanced Composites | Airbus A350 XWB | Non-metal Materials". Airframer. Stansted News Limited. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  12. ↑ Airframer, "Bell 525 Relentless", Stansted News Limited. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  13. ↑ Textile World, "TenCate Advanced Composites Receives Silver Boeing Supplier Performance Award", 2014-03-03. Accessed 2017-02-09.
  14. ↑ Adrian Wilson, "The Central Question", Composites in Manufacturing, 2016-09-04. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  15. ↑ Amanda, Jacob (2014-02-25). "TenCate to supply carbon fibre prepreg for Alfa Romeo 4C monocoque". Materials Today. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  16. ↑ "Brunel Racing is proud to announce Amber Composites and TenCate Advanced Composites as material suppliers". Brunel Racing. Tumblr. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  17. ↑ Sara Black, "Thermoplastic composites technology: A view from Europe", Composites World, 2015-06-01. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  18. ↑ Jeff Sloan, "Thermoplastic composite B-pillar?", Composites World, 2016-12-21. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  19. ↑ NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "Deployable Antenna Circuit Board Material Design and Fabrication Process", 2016-03-01. Accessed 2017-1-31.
  20. ↑ "Success for thermoplastic composite welding technique". Materials Today. AGC. 2016-09-12. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  21. ↑ Davies, Ellis (2017-01-04). "Innovative Uses of Composites in Sport". Materials World Magazine. The Institute of Materials, and Mining. Archived from the original on Feb 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
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