Teijin Limited announced today that its Tenax carbon fiber prepreg has been adopted for a part of nacelle, or streamlined housing, for nextgeneration aircraft engine to be used by Airbus. A prototype of the nacelle part, which Nikkiso Co., Ltd. is developing for Airbus’s Propulsion of Tomorrow project, will be
delivered to Airbus by the end of 2021.
The Tenax prepreg used for the nacelle part was developed especially for aircraft applications using high-performance and rapid-curing epoxy resin. Notably, the Tenax prepreg can be molded at a lower temperature and in a shorter time than conventional prepregs for aircraft applications. In addition to general autoclave molding, the Tenax prepreg also is suited to press molding for mass production, achieving excellent quality required for aircraft applications. Furthermore, it is compatible with automated fiber placement (AFP) therefore can be combined with automatic laminating technology and short-time molding to maximize production efficiency. The excellent productivity and cost efficiency of the Tenax prepreg were key reasons why it was adopted for Nikkiso’s nacelle.