Toyoda Gosei has developed a cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-reinforced plastic with the aim of reducing CO₂ over the lifecycle of automotive components, from raw material procurement and production to recycling and disposal.

Toyoda Gosei is developing materials that raise the environmental performance of its products by leveraging the features of CNF:

• CNF has one-fifth the weight and five times the strength of steel. When used as a reinforcing material in plastic or rubber, the product can be made thinner and foam molding becomes easier. This reduces weight and contributes to lower CO₂ emissions during vehicle driving.

• When the material is reused after vehicles are scrapped, little strength is lost from heating and melting, making recycling in automotive components possible.<>/p>

• It is a material that does not increase the total amount of CO₂. Even when CNF is incinerated, the only CO₂ emitted is that which was absorbed by the plant during its growth.

The newly developed CNF-reinforced plastic combines 20% CNF in a general purpose plastic (polypropylene) used in automobile interior and exterior components.

For practical application, reduced impact resistance from the inclusion of CNF was initially an issue. Toyoda Gosei overcame this with its material mix design and kneading expertise to raise impact resistance to a level suitable for automotive components.

The company will continue to lower costs in cooperation with CNF material manufacturers.