Toyoda Gosei develops seawater-derived fiber-reinforced material

Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd. (Kiyosu, Japan) has developed a lightweight material reinforced with fibers that use magnesium hydroxide derived from seawater, in its decarbonization efforts to create lighter weight products leveraging its plastic and rubber materials technology.

In this new plastic material, a magnesium compound derived from seawater is mixed as part of the reinforcing material into a general purpose plastic (polypropylene) used in interior and exterior products. The magnesium compound is fibriform, and so provides greater reinforcement than the previous material (talc), according to the company. As a result, the amount of reinforcing material can be reduced by half, while retaining the same quality as before, contributing to improved environmental performance of vehicles during operation. Another property of the new material is that scratches are less noticeable. This eliminates the need for paint to protect the surface on some products, contributing to a reduction in CO₂ during manufacture; Toyoda Gosei cites that in some products, CO₂ can be reduced by as much as 70%.