According to Mitsubishi Chemical's official website, its carbon fiber composite SMC material was selected by Toyota for use in the newly released Lexus luxury coupe LC500 and LC500h in March 2017 for the production of inner door panels and trunk inner panels.
The SMC sheet developed by Mitsubishi Chemical is a CFRP intermediate material obtained by cutting carbon fibers into several centimeters and then immersing them in a resin. After the SMC is processed quickly (usually after 2-5 minutes), the parts required for production can be obtained through the molding process. Compared to the prepreg molding process, the SMC process has the molding advantages of complex components, giving engineers more flexible product design capabilities.
This time, Mitsubishi Chemical's SMC sheet can be favored by Toyota, benefiting from the following advantages, including significant weight reduction, significant performance improvement, and significant improvement in the production capacity of complex components. The use of Mitsubishi Chemical's SMC sheet is Toyota's second attempt. The first cooperation between the two parties began in February this year, Toyota's new Prius PHV hybrid car tailgate structure uses Mitsubishi Chemical's SMC sheet. Mitsubishi Chemical said that it will continue to promote the application of its carbon fiber composite materials in the automotive field.
According to Mitsubishi Chemical's medium-term business plan, by 2020, the company's carbon fiber and its composite materials sales target is 100 billion yen.
