The company, a leader in the development of high-strength lightweight steels, says this move is in line with the global trend towards lightweight construction. With the TechCenter Carbon Composites ThyssenKrupp is adding a further class of materials to its capabilities. The focus will be on developing promising solutions for weight reduction in the automotive and other industries, where areas of application are opening up for carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) in multi-material designs in combination with steel.
The ThyssenKrupp TechCenter Carbon Composites will develop projects and ideas to production readiness. It will bring together the Group’s capabilities in this area of technology and support ongoing projects throughout the Group. It will also target collaborations with external partners along the entire value chain – for example with the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology at Technische Universität Dresden.
In the fiscal year 2011/2012 ThyssenKrupp generated sales of €40 billion. As of September 2012 its operations were organised in six business areas: Steel Europe, Materials Services, Elevator Technology, Plant Technology, Components Technology, and Marine Systems. As of January 2013 the business areas Plant Technology and Marine Systems will be merged into a new Industrial Solutions business area.
