Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it has won the Chemical Society of Japan’s Award for Technical Development for 2022 for the “Development of Highly Functional Textiles by Precise Control of Fiber Cross-Section Morphology.” This is the second straight year for Toray to receive recognition in this prize category for its advances in nanotechnology.

The award recognizes the creation of “Nanodesign,” an innovative conjugate spinning technology that employs a new technology to freely and precisely control the cross-sectional shape of composite fibers, and the successful commercialization of advanced fibers leveraging “Nanodesign”.

Manufacturing synthetic fibers entails melt spinning. This means melting and extruding a polymer through a multi-hole spinneret. Conjugate spinning conventionally involves geometrically arranging two polymers with different properties to create composite fibers. This approach develops functional materials with enhanced fiber properties. That is otherwise hard to do with single-component spinning. One downside of conjugate spinning is that there are numerous challenges in setting conditions to stabilize a morphology of two polymers with different properties. Another is limitations to enhancing cross-sectional morphology and the types of applicable polymers.

People seek more comfortable lifestyles as they become more affluent. Toray has endeavored to match demand for even more advanced food, clothing, and housing materials by developing advanced control technologies for polymer combinations and molding conditions. The company innovated a flow control mechanism that fundamentally changes the cross-sectional formation mechanism of conventional technologies. Its breakthrough conjugate spinning technology precisely controls fiber cross-section shapes.

“Nanodesign” makes it possible for fiber designs to incorporate the required functions of fabrics, nonwovens, and other textile materials, including the cross-sectional shapes and polymers in the fibers.
Toray has leveraged “Nanodesign” to make it possible to develop comfortable clothing fibers that combine natural looks with the functionality of synthetic fibers. Conventional fibers cannot match these capabilities. These advances include Kinari, a fabric that performs like natural silk. Another is Camifu, whose flat C cross-sectional shape combines excellent water absorption and fast drying with a natural feel. There is also Qticle, a stretch fabric with grooves like wool scales on a crimped fiber surface layer for outstanding colorability. The company will endeavor to expand new high-performance fibers created with “Nanodesign” for apparel. It will also keep developing industrial materials through life science product applications, thereby contributing to better living.

Toray will leverage core technologies in organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, biotechnology, and nanotechnology to progress in conceiving innovative technologies and advanced materials. At the same time, it will endeavor to materialize its corporate philosophy of contributing to society by creating new value through innovative ideas, technologies, and products.