JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #138 - January/February 2021 - 62

TECHNOLOGY inside the lab

ICC: an open-research innovation
platform for composites
The Innovative Composite Materials Research and Development Centre (ICC) is one of the affiliated institutes of Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT), a private university in Ishikawa prefecture, as well as
Japan's largest R&D centre dedicated to composite materials and manufacturing processes. Established in
2014 with an aim to expand the use of composites in a wide variety of fields, the ICC is an open research
centre with large, full-scale equipment capable of conducting a series of R&D processes from designing
and manufacturing up to testing via interdisciplinary, academia-industry collaborations.

A

s the global market for composites expands, many efforts for reducing CO2 emissions are being
made in Japan by applying composites
to produce lightweight aircraft and automobiles, but productivity and cost
reduction are the key challenges. So,
the ICC explores high-speed moulding
technology, continuous manufacturing technology, thermoplastic resins,
and more for mass production, and
is also focusing on expanding these
technologies and applying them to the
building & infrastructure (B&I) sector
as the next target. In addition to R&D,
the ICC also plays a role as a platform
supporting companies to promote and
build domestic and international cooperation networks, and is engaged in
activities to establish supply chains in
Japan.
ICC in figures
- Creation: 2014, 100% funded by
MEXT, Japan
- Surface area: about 5,800 m2
- Workforce: 30 people including 12
researchers, 6 engineers, 2 professors, 10 administrative officers
- Over 50 member companies
- Annual budget: about JPY ¥500M
(€4M)

Research themes
ICC's main research theme is the development of a high rate of productivity and
low-cost moulding process for the mass
production of composites, for various application fields such as aerospace, automotive, building & infrastructure, marine, and
architecture.
The centre carries out research in both
thermoplastic and thermosetting CFRP.
-	 Thermoplastic CFRP:
-	 Continuous moulding technology to
manufacture intermediate materials: prepreg sheets, organo sheets (multi-axial
fabrics, random cut tapes, woven cloth);
-	 Press forming technology: stamp forming, roll forming, continuous compression moulding, double belt-press, etc.;
-	 Pultrusion technology: ultra-high-speed
RTM pultrusion, in-situ polymerization
pultrusion;
-	 Secondary processing technology: welding (induction/ultrasonic), laser cutting,
etc.;
-	 Material development: development of
thermoplastic epoxy resins for innovative
moulding processes.
-	 Thermosetting CFRP:
-	 RTM technology (innovative flow media
for VaRTM, HP-RTM);
-	 Preform moulding technology.
As mentioned earlier, the ICC's main emphasis is on continuous moulding technology for the mass production of composites,
with a focus on the B&I sector. In earthquake-prone countries like Japan, the use
of lightweight and long-lasting FRPs in ad-

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	 jec composites magazine / N°138 January - February 2021

Fig. 1: The ICC team respecting social distancing, with a
great view of rice fields and mountains

dition to existing structural materials such
as concrete and steel will be very beneficial
to achieve a safe, secure and sustainable
next-generation infrastructure. The main
research themes in the B&I field are the
development of high-speed manufacturing and application technologies for FRP
rebar and CFRP rods to replace steel rebar
or tension materials in concrete structures.
Details on the next page.
JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #138 - January/February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #138 - January/February 2021
