AdministratorWho owns Zoltek?
Toray IndustriesZoltek / Parent organizationToray Industries, Inc. is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan that specializes in industrial products centered on technologies in organic synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, and biochemistry.
Its founding business areas were fibers and textiles, as well as plastics and chemicals. Wikipedia
Who is Zoltek?
Zoltek (Nasdaq: ZOLT until 2014) is a materials company headquartered in St. Louis, MO that engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of commercial carbon fiber for various applications.
What is carbon fiber used for?
Carbon fiber — sometimes known as graphite fiber — is a strong, stiff, lightweight material that has the potential to replace steel and is popularly used in specialized, high-performance products like aircrafts, racecars and sporting equipment.
Who manufactures carbon fiber?
Aerospace, which consumes the highest quality carbon fiber, accounted for 24,500 metric tonnes; the sports and leisure segment accounted for 13,800 metric tonnes….Carbon fiber supply, nameplate, metric tonnes.
| Manufacturer | Headquarters | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Hexcel | U.S. | 16,000 |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Carbon Fiber & Composites | U.S. | 16,000 |
How is carbon fiber made?
Carbon fibre is made from organic polymers. These polymers consist of long strings of molecules held together by carbon atoms. About 90 percent of carbon fibres are made from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) process. The remaining 10 percent are made from rayon or petroleum pitch process.
Who invented carbon fiber?
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan first created carbon fiber in 1860 to use in an early incandescent light bulb. In 1879, Thomas Edison used cellulose-based carbon fiber filaments in some of the first light bulbs to be heated by electricity. Their high heat tolerance made them ideal electrical conductors.
Why carbon fiber is expensive?
Production Making carbon fiber is a highly-specialized process. For that reason, not just anyone can work as a carbon fiber manufacturer. The machinery needed to produce carbon fiber is also quite advanced. These machines can cost thousands of dollars, driving up the price of the end product.
Which country is the largest producer of carbon fiber?
This statistic displays the distribution of the global production capacity of carbon fiber by country in 2018. In that year, the carbon fiber production capacity in China accounted for 12 percent of global production capacity.