Companies interested in testing the latest in low-cost carbon fibre have a new opportunity to partner with the Department of Energy’s Carbon Fibre Technology Facility.
The CFTF, operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the Department’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, opened earlier this year to find ways to reduce carbon fibre production costs and to work with the private sector to stimulate widespread use of the strong, lightweight material.
In its first months of operation, the CFTF used traditional raw materials to assure the new pilot scale manufacturing line would produce a commercial-quality product. With that goal accomplished, the facility now will use less expensive “precursor” materials that can be turned into carbon fibre more cost-effectively.
CFTF director Lee McGetrick said;
The first alternative precursors we are working with are lower-cost, textile-grade acrylic fibres that we will turn into sample lots of carbon fibres. Companies that would like to obtain some of this material for prototyping of composite applications are invited to come and talk to us.
The 42,000-square-foot CFTF has the flexibility to try out different kinds of precursor materials, which typically comprise about half of carbon fibre production costs. In addition to the textile acrylic fibre now in use, CFTF researchers are experimenting with other inexpensive alternatives such as lignin, a byproduct of biorefineries and the pulp industry.
The CFTF draws on ORNL’s broad portfolio of manufacturing and materials science expertise and is closely integrated with the lab’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, which offers additional equipment and resources in advanced manufacturing. Companies that would like to work with the MDF in the areas of additive manufacturing or carbon fibre and composites are invited to submit collaborative project proposals.
If you are in the USA and are interested in trying out low-cost carbon fibre to develop new products and tap markets in such areas as transportation, energy production and infrastructure. The full federal business opportunity announcement can be found here
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