Cytec Engineered Materials (CEM), a business unit of Cytec Industries Inc. (NYSE: CYT) and Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. (MRC) today announced they have entered into a strategic business collaboration to advance carbon fiber reinforced composite materials technology. Both CEM and MRC will have the opportunity to supply the developed materials for use in the aerospace industry.

With the agreement, the companies will combine and share their superior technologies and engineering efforts for selected high-performance carbon composites applications in the structural materials aerospace market and provide the aerospace industry technologically advanced composite materials.

The composite content of next-generation aircraft is expected to grow tremendously as manufacturers such as Boeing look to lower weight and improve fuel efficiency. MRC is one of the leading carbon fiber suppliers and CEM has the broadest aerospace composite materials portfolio in the world. CEM and MRC have been collaborating to develop high-performance carbon composite materials for aerospace applications for several years.

This business and technology collaboration is helping both companies further improve their technological capabilities to meet the stringent demands and requirements of its customers in the aerospace industry. Leveraging MRC's high-performance fiber science knowledge and processing and supply capability is helping Cytec meet the advancing requirements and growing demands of its aerospace customers. MRC is benefitting from CEM's aerospace materials design and delivery experience as well as its advanced resin science and prepreg processing knowledge.