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Japanese firm MaruHachi installs new line for high-temp products

08 Mar '21

2 min read

Pic: MaruHachi

Japan-based composites manufacturer MaruHachi has installed a new production line for high-temperature unidirectional tapes, which will facilitate new opportunities in high-end applications in demanding market segments like aerospace, automotive or others outperforming traditional materials based on PP and PA which are already widely available.

In the first phase, MaruHachi will produce up to 40 tons/year and focuses now specifically on high-temperature thermoplastic uni-directional (UD) tapes and multi-layer sheet laminates. The material is based on high-performance fibres like carbon, aramid, glass or natural fibres and the matrix can be high-performance polymers like PPS, PEEK or other higher temperature polymers, which are much tougher than epoxies and easy to recycle. With a width of 500 mm, a specific weight from 60 to 350 g/m2, depending on the chosen material, the lines can operate under temperatures up to 420 degrees Celsius.

Working under these extremely high temperatures allows for better material properties of the final application, higher performance, increased resistance and integrated high-performance functionalities eg by overmoulding.

Since 2017, MaruHachi Group is active in the European market in cooperation with Dr. Michael Effing, the CEO of AMAC, who advises and supports the company strategically. The established, family-owned MaruHachi Group has a strong history in automotive and medical textiles and has been active in the innovative composites market for more than 15 years.

Toshi Sugahara, CEO of MaruHachi, said: “For many years, we have already been cooperating with domestic and international partners on high-demand applications and therefore, MaruHachi decided now to invest over 1 million euros in this new line in phase 1, including a funding participation from the Japanese government NEDO. New developments in phase 2 will be undertaken by the end of 2021 on the downstream technologies like the automated preforming and consolidation. With our new products, we want to contribute to significant weight reductions of the final products, thus improve energy efficiency while offering a cost-efficient and high-quality solution.”

Effing confirms: “The focus on the niche of high-temperature products based on PPS and PEEK allows MaruHachi on very demanding high-end applications such as structural frames on space and aircrafts, aircraft seats or engine components etc. The tapes are fully recyclable and can be processed eg with high-speed with laser-based tape placement machines and robots.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (SV)