Canon and Toray today announced the successful development of the industry’s largest exterior part made using bio-based plastic. Through Toray’s material design technology, capable of controlling polymer structures on a nanometer-order scale and Canon’s advanced molding technology supporting the formation of large-scale parts, Canon and Toray realized improvements in material characteristics to successfully develop the industry’s largest exterior part made using bio-based plastic. The part, for use in select Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE models, also achieves the world’s highest level of flame retardance. The newly developed part is approximately 11 times larger and approximately 6.5 times heavier than the previously realized largest bio-based plastic part that achieved the same level of flame retardance.
The part, which measures 640 millimeters (mm) wide by 440 mm high and weighs approximately 1,100 grams, will be used in select Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE models. In terms of flame retardance, the part achieves 5V classification under the UL 94 flammability testing program. Compared with conventional petroleum-based plastic, the new bio-based plastic developed by Canon and Toray offers an expected reduction in manufacturing-related CO2 emissions of approximately 20%.
