Teijin Corporation announced that its Sereebo carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic has been selected by General Motors Co for use in selected pickup truck cabins. This is the first time in the world that carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics have been used for structural components in mass-produced vehicles.

Sereebo will be used to produce the optional CarbonPro pickup truck compartment jointly developed by TeIwa GM for the GMC Sierra Denali 1500 and GMC Sierra AT4 1500. Specifically, the inner head plate, side plate and bottom plate of the pickup car will be made from Sereebo.

The GMC Sierra CarbonPro version for both vehicles will appear at selected GMC dealerships in the United States this summer after production starts in early June. CarbonPro panels will be manufactured in the United States at Continental Structural Plastics' facility in Huntington, Indiana.

Sereebo, which is used to produce CarbonPro boards, is a polyamide-based thermoplastic composite containing randomly oriented isotropic carbon fibers. The high volume production technology used for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics enables Sereebo to be formed in approximately 1min., which is shorter than the forming time of traditional carbon fiber reinforced thermoset plastics.

CarbonPro is 40% lighter than steel, yet provides 10 times the impact strength, and is better corrosion resistant and easier to recycle.

Due to its material properties, Sereebo also offers greater design flexibility and freedom, allowing GE engineers to shape many unique features into CarbonPro carriages.

Since the establishment of the Teijin Composites Innovation Center in 2008, Teijin has been developing leading composite product technologies and applications. In 2011, the company developed a technology for mass production of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, which was achieved in just 1min. The production interval (beat) time.

After that, Teijin established a technical facility in the United States and completed a pilot plant in Japan for the fully integrated production of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics.

Since naming its carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics product "Sereebo" in 2012, Teijin, together with partners outside China, including General Motors, has developed high-volume production methods.

In 2017, Teijin acquired Continental Structural Plastics, a global leader in automotive lightweight composite technology, establishing an organizational framework in North America involving the production, sale and evaluation of composite materials.

General Motors' use of Sereebo for CarbonPro represents a significant step forward in the application of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics in high-volume production vehicles.

From materials to component design, Teijin is expanding its product portfolio and its global supply chain to help automakers reduce vehicle weight.

Teijin is also aiming to become an automotive solutions provider by expanding its supply range of carbon fiber and glass fiber materials, and to this end, the company is actively cooperating with other material producers.

Teijin Group's automotive composite products business aims to achieve annual sales of US $2 billion by 2030.

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