・ With use of carbon fiber instead of the conventional sheet metal, the strength is substantially increased and the weight can be reduced.
・ Since thermoplastic carbon fiber material is used, the molding time is short.
・ Since trimming of the periphery is unnecessary, a finishing process for the product is unnecessary.
・ Since it is unnecessary to make holes for securing the molding, the product strength is not lowered.

・ Molding time: 30 min. ⇒ 5 min.
・ Cost: reduced by 30%
・ Trimming: unnecessary

○ In the vehicle's structure, body, etc., steel sheets are used, and parts are fixed by spot welding or with bolts and welded nuts.
○ When manufacturing a vehicle structure with carbon fiber, it was difficult to draw prepreg as opposed to sheet-metal press forming because prepreg is hard to be drawn.
○ Since carbon fibers cannot be welded, these parts were generally drilled and secured with screws. As a result, carbon fibers were cut, causing the strength to be lowered.
○ Thick-walled molded product of carbon fiber is difficult to laminate, and its material cost is high. Sandwich panel having a core made with AL honeycomb or the like is available, but there are many problems with the application to 3D molded product.

Concerning the molding method in which multiple single-layer prepreg sheets are laminated and hot-press molded, we worked on the development of a molding technique which provides a guarantee of strength by die molding and reduces the forming time.
We developed a lightweight CF composite having high-quality appearance, which uses a bead foam as the core material, with single-layer prepreg sheets laminated.