Producer

Teijin Carbon (Tenax brand)

HQ DE · North Rhine-Westphaliawebsite ↗

Carbon fiber division of Teijin Limited (Tokyo, Japan), marketed as Tenax brand. Sales/marketing HQ in Wuppertal, Germany; production at Heinsberg-Oberbruch, Germany (5,100 MT/yr, ~400 employees, 4 production lines); Mishima, Japan (6,400 MT/yr CF + prepreg + precursor); Greenwood, SC, USA (3,000 MT/yr, Teijin Carbon America HQ); Ha Nam, Vietnam (operational since 2021); Rockwood, TN (Pyromex specialty CF). Key product for pressure vessels: Tenax IMS65 E23 36K (5,800 MPa tensile strength, 280 GPa modulus) — a high-performance intermediate-modulus fiber that competes upmarket from Toray T700S for weight-optimized pressure vessel applications. Third-largest global CF producer by capacity. Tenax carbon fiber is also used in BMW automotive composites and aerospace structures.

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  • Tenax Carbon Fiber Tow (Standard & High-Performance)

    50%
  • Prepregs & Composites

    25%
  • Specialty Fibers (Pyromex)

    15%
  • Vietnam & Emerging Market Production

    10%

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  • Did you know2023

    Teijin Limited (Tokyo) owns three high-performance fiber brands that serve completely different end markets: Tenax carbon fiber (pressure vessels, aerospace structures, automotive composites), Twaron para-aramid fiber (ballistic body armor, cut-resistant gloves, tire reinforcement), and Conex meta-aramid fiber (heat protective workwear, firefighter protective clothing). A single Japanese company holds carbon fiber technology for SCBA pressure vessels carried by US firefighters, the aramid fiber in the ballistic vest protecting police officers, and the meta-aramid fiber in the flame-resistant workwear protecting industrial workers. If Teijin Limited faced a corporate distress event, export controls from Japan, or nationalization pressure from Japanese government, all three protective equipment supply chains -- pressurized SCBA cylinders, body armor, and flame-resistant workwear -- would simultaneously lose a primary materials source. The protective equipment industry has not mapped this cross-product concentration.

    Teijin Limited
  • Origin2023

    Teijin Limited (Tokyo, 1918) entered carbon fiber through its 2005 acquisition of Toho Tenax Co., Ltd. (previously Toho Rayon Co., Ltd.) -- a Japanese carbon fiber pioneer that had been developing Tenax-brand CF since the 1970s from PAN precursor expertise built in rayon manufacturing. Teijin already owned Twaron (para-aramid fiber for body armor, competing with DuPont Kevlar) and Conex (meta-aramid for heat protection). The carbon fiber acquisition created a single Japanese parent that owned both the dominant body armor fiber (Twaron aramid) and one of the top-3 global carbon fiber brands (Tenax). Teijin added European manufacturing through the Toho Tenax Germany assets in Heinsberg, and US manufacturing through Greenwood, South Carolina (Teijin Carbon America). The BMW i3 and i8 carbon fiber composite supply relationship -- where Tenax CF went into BMW electric vehicle structural chassis -- was a landmark automotive CF production contract that demonstrated Tenax capability at automotive volumes.

    Teijin Carbon Europe GmbH