#Composites

2021-07-01

Toray opens Resins Technical Center in Europe

Toray’s Resins Technical Center is opening its doors on the premises of its Automotive Center Europe (AMCEU) near Munich, Germany. The new facility will support Toray Resins Europe GmbH, which markets and sells high performance resin compounds.

The main mission is to support customer application development by swiftly providing technical data, assisting with part design optimization through CAE simulation and innovative material and defect analyses and evaluations. With this facility Toray will address the fast-expanding adoption of digital design for resin products by bolstering long-term durability data and highly accurate mechanical property data that materials require. It will increase capabilities for advanced simulation of fiber reinforced parts, notably to factor in their unique anisotropy.

The new Resins Technical Center will offer materials with high tracking performance and heat cycle resistance and provide support analysis on crack prevention. This is to address such issues as cracking from heat cycling during cooling and heating of molded resin products for insulating high-voltage parts with metal inserts. That problem has increased in line with the emergence of electric vehicles.

In the automotive sector, the Technical Center will collaborate with automotive customers together with AMCEU, whose molding, analysis, and assessment capabilities take full advantage of Toray's advanced materials. These include fibers, films, resins, and carbon fiber composites. Toray will thus be able to reinforce technical solutions catering to European needs by offering construction techniques and structural design features matching its materials and engaging in joint development with European automakers and parts manufacturers.

Europe’s automotive sector is accelerating a development resource shift to electric vehicles and automated driving technologies amid increasingly strict environmental regulations, including to cut carbon dioxide emissions through better fuel efficiency. Demand for high-performance resins should thus keep growing amid an expanding market for electric power control and communication-related components. Demand for high-performance resins that match thermal, electrical, and chemical resistance requirements is also expanding in industrial applications, notable for electrical and electronic equipment and housing parts.

The new Resins Technical Center will enable Toray to swiftly identify local needs and formulate solutions to enhance customer satisfaction in Europe and accelerate the global expansion of its plastics business, particularly in automotive applications.

Toray has made expanding in growth fields a key priority in Project AP-G 2022, its medium-term management program. In Europe, which leads the world in initiatives to materialize economic sustainability, Toray will contribute to communities by locally developing and supplying high-performance resins in keeping with its commitment to innovating ideas, technologies, and products that deliver new value.

Toray develops recycling technology that retains carbon fiber strength and surface quality

Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that it has developed a recycling technology that can decompose diverse carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) made from thermosetting resins while retaining the strength and surface quality of those fibers. The company drew on this technology to create a nonwoven fabric employing recycled carbon fibers.

HEAD launches more sustainable(1) BOOM RAW racquet on Earth Day by using Toray’s bio-circular carbon fibers

HEAD continues to innovate with the launch of the BOOM RAW tennis racquet, an encouraging development in the search for a more sustainable future for racquet sports. All of the carbon fibers are bio-circular carbon fibers in the limited-edition and highly innovative BOOM RAW racquet, which offers the same explosive power - along with the same fun, feel and easy playability - as the regular, in-line BOOM racquet. The bio-circular carbon fibers are manufactured by Toray and its subsidiary Toray Carbon Fibers Europe.

Toray develops durable reverse osmosis membrane

Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that it has developed a highly durable reverse osmosis (RO) membrane (see glossary note 1). This innovative offering guarantees the long-term provision of high-quality water. It also maintains the superior removal performance of Toray’s existing membranes vital for reusing industrial wastewater and treating sewage.

MEL Composites delivers advanced hull infusion for Técnico Solar Boat’s hydrogen-powered São Gabriel 01

MEL Composites has reinforced its partnership with Técnico Solar Boat through the successful hull infusion of the São Gabriel 01, an 8m long, 2.4m wide, hydrogen-powered hydrofoiling vessel. Designed to compete at the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge in July 2026, the São Gabriel 01 is the team’s most technically demanding project to date and showcases the future of sustainable marine engineering by combining advanced composite manufacturing with clean energy systems.

Sicomin appoints CS Kompozyty as exclusive Distributor for Poland

Sicomin is pleased to announce the appointment of CS Kompozyty as its exclusive distributor for Poland. The partnership will provide Polish composite manufacturers with comprehensive access to Sicomin's broad range of performance epoxy resins, green epoxies, hardeners, and adhesive solutions, supported by local technical expertise and rapid delivery capabilities.

JEC World 2026 reveals the list of finalists for the Innovation Awards

Each year, the JEC Composites Innovation Awards recognize collaborative, innovative, and ambitious projects that illustrate the potential of composite materials. Created in 1998, this benchmark program aims to identify, promote, and reward the most innovative composite solutions worldwide. In 28 years, the JEC Composites Innovation Awards have attracted more than 2,200 participating companies from around the world. A total of 269 companies and 811 associated partners have been recognized for the excellence of their innovations.

PERFORMANCE DAYS: Focus topic shifts to the beginning of the value chain

Following the last Focus Topic in October 2025, which placed Textile-to-Textile Recycling at its core, PERFORMANCE DAYS continues to drive the conversation around circularity – this time with an expanded and more upstream perspective. The upcoming Focus Topic, “Textile to Textile: The Role of Collectors and Sorters,” presented during the spring edition on March 18–19, will spotlight one of the most essential yet often overlooked components of a functioning circular textile system: the efficient collection and sorting of post-consumer textiles.

Proven performance, optimised costs – the new RE 6 EL

Nowadays textile companies increasingly need to produce small production runs and respond to market changes with instantaneous pattern changes in order to operate profitably – meaning they require machines that offer maximum flexibility, reliability and cost efficiency. KARL MAYER understands the challenges of the market and is launching its new RE 6 EL. The Raschel machine offers the core strengths of the classic RSE 6 EL and essentially the same performance parameters, but has been further cost-optimised largely due to local production advantages. This makes the newcomer an efficiency champion in production, especially when it comes to frequent pattern changes.

European business associations celebrate the signature of the EU-Mercosur FTA

The 17th January marks a historic milestone with the signing of the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement, creating the biggest trading block in the world. European business – represented by more than 28 associations across a wide range of sectors – warmly welcomes this signature. It sends a strong and timely signal that the EU remains open and is committed to rules-based global trade. In a time of global uncertainty, this agreement is a key growth booster.