Carbon fiber composite materials and their applications in transportation

Mr. Toshiyuki Kondo, President and CEO of Toray Composites (America), Inc., discusses carbon fiber composite materials and their applications in transportation. Toray Industries in Japan has led the development and commercialization of these materials over a 40-year period and now holds the largest share of the world market for carbon fiber material production. Toray's lightweight and extremely strong carbon fiber composites are the main materials used for the primary structures (main wing and fuselage, etc.) of the new Boeing 787 "Dreamliner," yielding significant energy savings over previous generation aircraft.  Other applications range from turbines for wind energy production to golf clubs and bicycles.  This session will also address future applications of carbon fiber materials for a more "green" society.  Mr. Kondo has worked with Toray since receiving his MS in Synthetic Chemistry from the University of Kyoto in 1985.  His involvement with composites at Toray has ranged from doing R&D with the Large Scale Structures Development Group to managing composites product planning and serving as general manager of production.  He became CEO of Toray Composites (America) in 2009.  This is a session in our weekly series on "Green Technologies in Transportation: Recent Developments from Asia."

Hewlitt-Packard Auditorium