History

1990

TORAYCA™ Carbon-fiber prepreg certified as a primary structural material for passenger craft of The Boeing Company.

In 1961, inorganic fibers garnered attention as reinforcement materials in fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) for aerospace applications. In that year, Toray started research in this area, and successfully developed polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber in 1970. In 1971, test production (1 t/month) was started in Shiga and sales began under the name TORAYCA™. Then, in 1973, the operation of a full-scale production facility (5 t/month) was launched in Ehime. Initially the main applications were fishing rods, golf-club shafts and other sporting goods, but we built up trust in our product as a secondary structural material in aircraft applications, and in 1990, Toray prepreg was certified for the first time as a primary structural material (in tail assemblies) for the Boeing 777. In response, we established a presence in the U.S.: a prepreg production company in 1992 and a raw-fiber production company in 1997. In the Boeing 787, which entered service in 2011, TORAYCA™ prepreg and cloth are used throughout all primary structural elements, including the main wings.