Cytec Industries Inc. has teamed up with a German composites developer to promote the use of carbon-fiber reinforced plastics in select vehicle markets.
Cytec said March 12 that it has taken an equity position in C-Con Holdings GmbH of Munich. Terms were not disclosed.
Cytec sells carbon fiber composites to short-run specialties like racing cars and into aerospace markets. Spokeswoman Jodi Allen said in an interview that her company supplies carbon fiber composites for about 150 to 200 special vehicles made a year. It supplies components to high-end vehicles such as Bugatti and Ferrari.
“We want higher volumes, 5,000 to 10,000 a year,” Allen said from Cytec's Woodland Park, N.J., headquarters.
C-Con is a composites engineering and development company that could help lower the price of carbon fiber composites processes so that they would be used in medium-run production.
C-Con counts several European auto OEMs as customers. It has worked, for example, with BMW Group, Daimler, Volkswagen and Audi. C-Con provides assistance from design to production processes.
“This alliance with C-Con marks an important step forward in demonstrating our commitment to pursue [carbon fiber reinforced polymers] technology development to enable adoption into a broader automotive market,” stated Cytec Chairman, President and CEO Shane Fleming in a news release.
Epoxies and other resins will be involved in the partners' research, Allen said.
C-Con regards Cytec as a materials technology leader committed to the automotive market, noted C-Con CEO Michael Neuner.