July 2024 Composites Blog
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July 19, 2024
New Toyota Concept Car Incorporates Carbon Fiber PP and 3D Printed Components
Composite materials and 3D printing are increasingly being used in the automotive industry. The new Toyota Hyper-F Concept is a perfect example of how to incorporate these components. Mitsui Chemicals and subsidiary Arrk Corp provided several materials and components for the development of the high-performance concept car based on the Toyota Fortuner. Among the parts used were Direct pellet-fed 3D-printed components and Tafnex CF/PP unidirectional carbon-fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) sheet. The Toyota Hyper-F Concept was designed by Bangkok-based TCD Asia. The materials enabled the development of a sporty lightweight design that complemented vehicle's road handling and aerodynamic performance. But before Mitsui could develop such cutting-edge parts and materials it first had to develop the necessary technological capabilities. This was done by forming an alliance with automotive engineering services provider Dreams Design Corp., And with Tokyo based supplier of direct pellet-fed 3D printers ExtraBold Inc. The technology used to create the components and materials equipped on the Toyota Hyper-F included Dreams Desing’s auto part design technology, ExtraBold’s EXF-12 3D printer, 3D printing and post-processing technologies of Arrk, and the polyolefin-based composite technology being developed by Mitsui Chemicals for use in 3D printing. Learn more about this topic here.
