About

TAFNEX™ is a unidirectional tape (UD tape) made from a carbon fiber and polypropylene (thermoplastic resin) composite.

Top > about TAFNEX™

  • Concept
  • Background
  • Quality
  • Eco/Environment
  • TAFNEX™ is a unidirectional tape (UD tape) made from a carbon fiber and polypropylene (PP) composite. It is lightweight and highly rigid with good moldability, and since the matrix resin is made of PP, it can easily be integrally molded with PP. The material has an extremely high affinity with PP for applications such as creating an integrated piece for insert injection molding or an integrated foamed PP sandwich. TAFNEX™ is designed to be adapted for use in a range of applications in the auto, industrial and consumer sectors. Moving forward, Mitsui Chemicals will not only pursue the development of material specifications but will also work to research and propose processing and construction methods for carbon fiber-reinforced materials through coordination with Group companies, including ARRK Corporation and Kyowa Industrial. Mitsui Chemicals will respond to customer needs with total solutions to ensure that TAFNEX™ can be more effectively utilized.
  • Mitsui Chemicals maintains some of the world's leading technologies for olefin modification and has made available a wide range of modified olefins. Among these, polypropylene (PP) is one of the core technologies of Mitsui Chemicals. PP is a material with excellent lightness, water resistance and chemical resistance, and by combining it with the light, hard and strong properties of carbon fiber, Mitsui Chemicals expected that new needs would arise in the future and began development in 2014 as a result. By designing a carbon fiber sizing agent (developed in-house), a high impregnation and interfacial adhesion with PP was achieved.
  • The material has been designed so that PP can be impregnated into carbon fiber in a stable and swift manner over a 600mm sheet width. Efforts have also been made to ensure the continuation of safe and stable production by clearly specifying equipment check points.
  • PP is a thermoplastic material and can be easily recycled by heating and melting. TAFNEX™, which is made from a continuous fiber structure, can be reused as a discontinuous long fiber-reinforced PP. Mitsui Chemicals is continually pursuing research and development into social issues.

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Transition/History

2014
Start of development of a carbon fiber-reinforced propylene material Development of CAE technologies for carbon fiber-reinforced composite material Start of joint development with Formosa Plastics Corporation
2016
Development of carbon fiber-reinforced composite material processing technologies (ICC joint research)
2017
Long-term durability assessment of carbon fiber-reinforced composite material (ICC joint research) Installation of TAFNEX™ production equipment (at Mitsui Chemicals Nagoya Works)
2018
Start of TAFNEX™ production line operation
2019
ARRK Corporation joins MCI Group and strengthens cooperation on CAE / processing / construction method development (*In 2014, Kyowa Industrial joined the MCI Group and began coordination on mold development.)
2020
Completion of TAFNEX™-based brand development
2021
Launch of the brand website

Exhibition

Appearances of TAFNEX™ at exhibitions

2017
JEC 2017, Automotive Engineering Exposition China Composite, etc.
2018
JEC 2018, Automotive Engineering Exposition, SAMPE 2018, JEC ASIA 2018, China Composite, ITHEC 2018, etc.
2019
JEC 2019, Automotive Engineering Exposition, SAMPE 2019, China Composite, Composites Europe 2019, etc.
2020
JEC SUMMIT SPORTS & HEALTH(Online)、 China Composite、 JEC?KOREA2020
2021
Automotive Engineering Exposition (online) SAMPE 2022
2022
JEC 2022(May) Automotive Engineering Exposition (May/Jun) SAMPE 2022(Oct)