Toho Tenax Co., Lt., the core company of the Teijin Group, announced the hybrid prepreg has been adopted by Mizuno Corporation in a new golf club shaft that weighs nearly 30 percent less than conventional shafts of the same thickness. A prepreg is a carbon fiber sheet pre-impregnated with matrix resin and used as an intermediate material for carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP). The high-tensile prepreg enables the shaft to bend suitably as the ball is impacted and then cuts the shock of impact by more than 10 percent to reduce club movement on the follow-through swing.
The surface of the CNT is specially treated and its structural elements disperse equally when Toho Tenax’s carbon fiber is impregnated with matrix resin containing the CNT. The hybrid combination of carbon fiber and CNT realizes a superior CFRP that offers improved tensile strength and shock resistance. The CFRP is more durable because the carbon fiber and matrix resin do not peel away from each other thanks to the CNT’s balanced dispersion.
The Teijin Group is accelerating its development of its new high-tensile, highly shock-resistant prepreg for high-end applications in the sports and leisure fields, then eventually in aircraft fields, where weight reduction and high functionality are especially critical. Teijin also is strengthening its capabilities to provide solutions for diverse global businesses, from upstream to downstream.
