Cytec To Expand Carbon Fiber

Cytec Industries is undertaking a number of projects to boost supply of carbon fiber and fabrics used to build lightweight and fuel-efficient military and commercial aircraft. The firm plans to resume expansion work on a polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber facility in Piedmont, S.C., to be completed by the end of 2013. It also plans to increase capacity for resin-impregnated carbon fiber fabrics by 20% at its Greenville, Texas, plant in 2015. Such “prepreg” materials are used to form composite structures such as aircraft fuselages. In addition, the firm says a project at its Kalamazoo, Mich., site to increase the capacity of polymers used in certain prepregs by 25% will be completed later this year. This will be followed by another polymer expansion at the site that will double capacity by 2014.