JAL’s A350 XWB world’s first aircraft using CFRTP parts

Japanese airline JAL’s A350 XWB aircraft, Airbus’s new-generation extra-wide-body midsize jetliner is incorporating chemical firm Teijin’s Tenax TPCL carbon fibre thermoplastic consolidated laminate. The aircraft with primary carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) parts was delivered to JAL recently.

As a supplier to Airbus for over 30 years, Teijin says it has provided the aircraft maker with Tenax carbon fibre for a variety of aircraft families. In 2014, Tenax TPCL was registered in Airbus’s qualified products list for the world’s first use of CFRTP in primary structure parts for Airbus’s aircraft. Tenax TPCL, which utilies carbon fibre composites made with high impact, heat and chemical resistant PEEK thermoplastic resin, are supplied by Teijin Carbon Europe in Germany.

Teijin says it is increasingly emphasising strong, lightweight, high-performance materials that offer environmentally sensitive solutions for improved fuel efficiency; and is focusing its carbon fibre business on the aircraft field, where it is developing midstream and downstream applications.