Hankuk Carbon opens first European office

Hankuk Carbon, a company considered one of the pioneers in Korean composite material manufacturing, has opened the doors of its first European office at MIRA Technology Park, a UK-based Enterprise Zone.

The move comes as part of a commitment from Hankuk Carbon to strengthen links with automotive OEMs in Europe, and to develop deeper connections with sports, leisure and industrial markets.

Its location on the MIRA Technology Park allows Hankuk to join the growing automotive technology sector there, which includes Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, and Aston Martin. The new location will also allow the company to find future strategic partnerships and it looks set to improve its high-volume manufacturing method's efficiency.

Hankuk Carbon has developed Prepeg Compression Moulding (PCM) materials which are able to be cured within 60 seconds. This allows the manufacturing cycle time of composite components to be drastically reduced and enables the company to deliver high-volume to customers. 

The company is already well-established in the luxury yacht market, an industry which has a low material demand annually. With a faster manufacture time, Hankuk's ability to perform high-capacity production means it is able to diversify as the automotive market increases demand for lightweight composite materials like carbon fibre.

Byoungha Min, Branch Director at Hankuk Carbon, said: “As the electrification and automation of vehicles becomes more prevalent, reducing the weight of a vehicle becomes progressively important. We’ve seen an increased demand for composite materials as a result and MIRA Technology Park’s pioneering CAV and EV tenants will provide a key opportunity for collaboration.” 

Terry Spall, Commercial Director at MIRA Technology Park, said: “As a technology cluster, MIRA Technology Park hosts some of the most exciting companies working on the development of the next generation of automobiles. The way that we travel is set to change over the coming years and the companies that we have on site will be a real driving force in that evolution. Hankuk Carbon presents an opportunity for OEMs across Europe. The firm’s ability to manufacture composite intermediate materials such as carbon or glass prepregs for the PCM process - which can be cured in such a short time frame - makes the high-volume production of vehicles with carbon fibre components very realistic, providing a huge array of benefits for vehicle manufacturers.”

MIRA Technology Park is known for its world-class research and development facilities and is home to a large number of automotive companies. In turn, this has created an "international automotive technology cluster" with more than 1,200 employees across 40 companies from 15 different countries, all benefitting from the cutting edge facilities.

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