Teijin Ltd. is bolstering its position as an aerospace industry supplier with the acquisition of U.S.-based Renegade Materials Corp.
The Tokyo materials supplier will buy Renegade through its U.S. subsidiary Teijin Holdings USA. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Based in Miamisburg, Ohio, Renegade is a supplier of heat-resistant thermoset prepreg for military and commercial aerospace applications. The company launched its nanofilled composite materials for the aerospace industry under the Renegade brand in 2007.
Through the acquisition, Teijin expects to gain access to new technologies, including Renegade's expertise in developing thermal-cycle resistant prepregs which incorporate heat-resistant low-toxicity polyimide resins.
Among others, the company is aiming to tap into Renegade's technologies to produce “next-generation” aircraft engine parts.
“Demand for highly heat-resistant thermoset prepregs are increasing in the global aerospace industry,” Shukei Inui, general manager of Teijin's carbon fiberbusiness unit, said.
Renegade, he added, offers “well-established technologies and sales channels in this field.”
In recent years, Teijin has increased its attention to lightweight, high-performance materials with low environment footprint to improve fuel efficiency. The company also owns Continental Structural Plastics, which supplies carbon fiber and other composites to the auto industry.
The company is specifically focusing its carbon fiber business on the aircraft segment, with the target to have more than $900 million in sales to the industry by 2030.
As part of this, Teijin's carbon fiber business is building a $600 million production facility in Greenwood, S.C., to be completed by the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
The Japanese materials supplier already manufactures Tenax-branded carbon-fiber-filament yarn, which is used in primary and secondary structural parts for aircraft.
The company is now leveraging its intermediate material and processing technologies for next-generation aircraft applications.
Last month, Teijin announced that its Tenax carbon fiber and Tenax TPUD carbon-fiber thermoplastic unidirectional pre-impregnated tape had been qualified by Boeing as advanced intermediate composite materials for primary structural aircraft parts.
