The part, made in partnership with Toray Industries, also achieves the “world’s highest level” of flame retardance, said Canon.
The panel measures 640 x 440 millimetres and weighs around 1,100 grams. Canon explained that it is made using Toray’s material design technology, “which is capable of controlling polymer structures on a nanometre-order scale”.
According to the companies, the new bio-based plastic, Ecodear, offers an “expected reduction in manufacturing-related CO2 emissions of approximately 20 percent”.
The bio plastic was made in 2008 and contains “more than 25 percent (in weight) of a plant-derived component”.
Ecodear is being used in select exterior parts in the following five imageRUNNER ADVANCE series lineups: C9000 PRO/C7000/C5000/8000/6000.
Canon and Toray explained that Ecodear will only be used for some parts because it does not perform as well as conventional plastic. For example, in areas such as flame retardance, impact resistance, heat resistance and moldability.
Canon added: “This successful development achievement will enable the use of bio-based plastic in not only small-scale exterior parts in multifunction office systems and other business devices, but also for replacing large-scale exterior parts used in multifunction office systems for production printing.
“Through continued technical development, Canon and Toray will work to realize further enhancements in the field of bio-based plastics with the aim of expanding the range of applications in which they can be used.”