CFRP Molding (RTM/Autoclave) Patent Landscape 2026
The CFRP molding (RTM/autoclave) space has reached maturity, with annual filings plateaued near their 2018 peak and a moderately concentrated field led by Japanese material and engineering firms. Toray Industries holds the top position, but Chinese industrial and academic applicants have closed the gap substantially, reshaping the competitive geography.
Toray leads a moderately concentrated field with strong Asian presence
Toray Industries holds the top rank with 33 patent families, followed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at 22 and Mitsubishi Chemical at 20. The top five filers — Toray, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Chemical, Hengshen, and Teijin — together account for 19% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating that leadership is real but not dominant.
The field splits into two recognizable tiers: a cluster of Japanese incumbents with broad process portfolios, and a growing cohort of Chinese manufacturers and state-affiliated research institutes — Hengshen (19 families), Harbin FRP Institute (14 families), and Chery Automobile (12 families) — that have materially narrowed the gap with established leaders.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toray Industries, Inc. | 33 | |
| 2 | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 22 | |
| 3 | Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | 20 | |
| 4 | Hengshen Co., Ltd. | 19 | |
| 5 | Teijin Limited | 15 | |
| 6 | Inoac Corporation | 15 | |
| 7 | Aisin Takaoka Co., Ltd. | 14 | |
| 8 | Harbin FRP Institute Co., Ltd. | 14 | |
| 9 | Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | 13 | |
| 10 | Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. | 12 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | 10 | |
| 12 | Iljin Co., Ltd. | 10 | |
| 13 | Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 9 | |
| 14 | AEROSPACE RES INST OF MATERIAL & PROCESSING TECH | 9 | |
| 15 | Renault S.A. | 8 | |
| 16 | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology | 8 | |
| 17 | Beihang University | 8 | |
| 18 | Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC | 7 | |
| 19 | CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd. | 6 | |
| 20 | Harbin Institute of Technology | 6 |
The Japanese leaders’ positions rest on deep coverage of core shaping processes (B29C) and upstream materials preparation, giving them broad freedom-to-operate. Challengers from. China are concentrated in process execution and automotive-application claims, suggesting an entry strategy focused on specific end-use sectors rather than foundational process patents.
Filings from roughly the last 18–24 months are subject to publication lag and will be under-counted; treat the most recent data points as provisional. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity has plateaued since 2018; core shaping IP dominates the technology mix
The annual filing trend reveals a field that expanded sharply to its 2018 peak and has since traded in a broadly flat range. The technology composition chart shows overwhelming concentration in plastics-shaping processes, with a long tail of application-specific branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked in 2018 and have remained broadly flat through the subsequent years, consistent with a maturing technology. The apparent dip in 2026 reflects publication lag only and should not be interpreted as a real decline; 2024–2025 data is also likely under-counted for the same reason.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B29C (shaping of plastics) accounts for the largest share of patent records by a wide margin, confirming that the competitive core of the field remains process-oriented. Adjacent branches — B29L (plastic products index), B29K (moulding materials index), B32B (layered products), and C08J (polymer processing) — form a secondary ring of activity. Application-specific branches such as B62D (vehicles), B64C (aeroplanes), and F16C (shafts and bearings) are present but sparse, signalling that end-use claims remain an under-developed area relative to process claims.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Method of Designing and Producing Carbon Fiber Com…
A method is provided of designing and producing a carbon fiber composite wrist pin using a combination of a carbon fiber composite pultruded rod that is overwrapped with a carbon fiber prepreg fabric. The use of the carbon fiber pultruded rod and the carbon fiber prepreg fabric results in a rod with optimal flexural strength properties to endure the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carbon fiber composite material | 111 |
| 2 | Manufacturing method of fiber-reinforced composite… | 75 |
| 3 | Method for manufacturing skin-stringer structure m… | 75 |
| 4 | Reinforced plastics artificial limb component and … | 70 |
| 5 | Fiber-reinforced carbon and graphite articles and … | 67 |
| 6 | Method for producing carbon fiber aggregate, and m… | 62 |
| 7 | Fiber-reinforced carbon and graphite articles and … | 62 |
| 8 | 一种碳纤维复合材料结构件真空灌注成型方法 | 51 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural features of the landscape — maturity stage, concentration pattern, collaboration network, and geographic filing spread — each carry distinct implications for where new investment will find room to differentiate.
Field is at plateau, not growth
Annual filings have plateaued near the 2018 peak, placing the field firmly in the maturity stage. Incremental process patents face a crowded prior-art landscape; differentiation now favors application-specific, materials-chemistry, or quality-and-inspection claims that are less densely covered. New entrants should expect high prior-art density in core B29C shaping claims.
Mature / PlateauModerate concentration with a rising Chinese tier
The top five filers hold 19% of the hundred largest filers’ total — meaningful concentration but not a lock-in scenario. The gap between the Japanese incumbents and the second Chinese tier (Hengshen at 19 families, Harbin FRP Institute at 14) is narrowing. This two-tier structure leaves room for a focused challenger willing to build depth in a specific application domain rather than competing on breadth.
Two-tier competitionNissan–Renault alliance is the dominant co-filing pair
The most active co-filing relationship identified is Nissan Motor and Renault, with 8 joint filings, reflecting their automotive alliance’s shared CFRP lightweighting program. Nissan and Kurimoto also co-filed on 6 occasions, pointing to a supplier-OEM collaboration. Toray filed jointly with two partners (2 and 1 filings respectively). The overall collaboration network is sparse, suggesting most players pursue proprietary rather than consortium-based IP strategies.
Sparse collaborationChina dominates filing volume; Japan and the US are secondary offices
China is the lead jurisdiction by a large margin, followed by Japan, the United States, and Europe (EPO). South Korea, WIPO (PCT), and Germany represent smaller but active filing destinations. The China-heavy filing pattern reflects both domestic CFRP industry build-out and a defensive filing strategy by Chinese state-linked applicants. Applicants seeking broad international protection should prioritize PCT filings, which remain comparatively sparse.
China-first geographyGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | Renault S.A. | 8 |
| Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | Kurimoto, Ltd. | 6 |
| Toray Industries, Inc. | Sakase Adtech Co., Ltd. | 2 |
| Toray Industries, Inc. | Wan Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| Harbin FRP Institute Co., Ltd. | China National Building Material Group Co., Ltd. | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Toray and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries lead on breadth; Hengshen anchors Chinese challenge
The top players divide into Japanese process-and-materials generalists and Chinese application-focused specialists. Momentum data flags several applicants as recently intensifying their filing activity from a prior low base.
Toray Industries
Toray Industries leads with 33 patent families and shows a recently renewed filing pace (flagged as a new entrant in the most recent period, indicating activity has resumed after a quieter interval). Its technology emphasis spans core shaping processes (B29C 70), plastics preparation (B29B 11), and polymer processing (C08J 5), giving it one of the broadest process portfolios in the field. This breadth makes Toray a foundational licensor and a high citation-risk counterpart for new entrants filing in adjacent process spaces.
families: 33Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries holds second place with 22 patent families. Its portfolio concentrates on shaping-process claims (B29C 70), moulding materials (B29K 105), and layered products (B32B 5), reflecting its aerospace and industrial-structure manufacturing base. No recent momentum flag is present in the evidence for this applicant, suggesting a steady rather than accelerating filing posture. It represents the strongest aerospace-oriented counterpart in the ranking.
families: 22| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Toray Industries, Inc. | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
| Harbin FRP Institute Co., Ltd. | 12 | ▲ new entrant |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches in materials chemistry and polymer engineering
Five branches sit at lower relative share within the corpus despite having clear technical connections to RTM and autoclave molding. They are observations of comparative sparsity, not confirmed commercial opportunities, but two carry plausible entry paths worth monitoring.
C08J · Polymer processing and matrix solutions
C08J (polymer processing and solutions) is present but comparatively sparse relative to the dominant B29C process branch. For RTM specifically, resin system formulation and cure-kinetics IP falls squarely in C08J, and this sub-space is less densely occupied than the fiber-layup and tooling claims that dominate B29C. An entrant with resin-chemistry capability — particularly for fast-cure or out-of-autoclave formulations — could establish defensible positions here without directly contesting the core shaping-process incumbents.
Search this in Eureka →B33Y · Additive manufacturing integration with CFRP
B33Y (additive manufacturing / 3D printing) appears only sparsely in the corpus, yet hybrid processes combining 3D-printed tooling or preform structures with RTM infusion are an active area of applied research. The low patent count relative to the technical activity suggests either that most work remains unpublished or that the intersection is genuinely under-claimed. Entry via process-integration patents — combining continuous-fiber preforming with resin infusion guided by additively manufactured mandrels — represents a technically plausible path with limited direct prior-art competition visible in this corpus.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by technology route across process and materials axes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | B29C 70 · Shaping of plastics | B29K 105 · Plastics moulding materials (index) | B29C 43 · Shaping of plastics | B29L 31 · Plastic products (index) | C08J 5 · Polymer processing & solutions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toray Industries, Inc. | Strong · 35 | Moderate · 11 | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 13 |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. | Strong · 21 | Strong · 14 | Moderate · 9 | Absent | Moderate · 9 |
| Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | Strong · 12 | Strong · 9 | Strong · 7 | Absent | Strong · 7 |
| Inoac Corporation | Strong · 13 | Moderate · 6 | Strong · 11 | Absent | Absent |
| Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. | Strong · 11 | Strong · 7 | Strong · 12 | Absent | Absent |
| Hengshen Co., Ltd. | Strong · 19 | Absent | Absent | Moderate · 4 | Absent |
| Aisin Takaoka Co., Ltd. | Strong · 12 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 7 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The analysis covers 550 patent families focused on CFRP molding processes including RTM and autoclave methods.
Toray Industries holds the top position with 33 patent families, ahead of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (22) and Mitsubishi Chemical (20).
The field has reached maturity: annual filings peaked in 2018 and have plateaued since. The most recent 18–24 months are under-counted due to publication lag, so apparent softness in 2024–2026 data should not be treated as a real decline.
China is the lead filing jurisdiction by a significant margin, followed by Japan, the United States, and Europe (EPO). This reflects both the growth of the Chinese CFRP industry and filing strategies of Chinese state-linked applicants.
The most active co-filing pair is Nissan Motor and Renault with 8 joint filings, consistent with their automotive alliance’s lightweighting programs. Nissan also co-filed with Kurimoto on 6 occasions. Overall, the collaboration network is sparse, indicating that most applicants pursue proprietary rather than consortium IP strategies.
C08J (polymer processing and matrix solutions, relevant to resin-system formulation and cure kinetics) and B33Y (additive manufacturing integration with CFRP preforms and tooling) are comparatively sparse relative to the dominant B29C shaping-process branch, and both have plausible technical entry paths for new applicants.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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