IACMI partner, ORNL will host a webinar to provide a technology overview and description of their recently announced low-cost carbon fiber process. More information on the webinar is below.
Low Cost Carbon Fiber Process Webinar April 7, 2016 at 11AM EST
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is seeking commercialization partners to license a new method to produce industrial-grade structural carbon fiber from commercially-available low-cost textile-grade acrylic fiber precursor materials. A webinar will be held on April 7, 2016, at 11 AM EST to review the technology and the license application process. The webinar is free but registration is required. Please register for the webinar here.
The presenters are Ron Ott, PhD Deputy Director, Energy and Transportation Science division and Michael Paulus, PhD director, Technology Transfer. The presentation will run about 40 minutes with an additional 20 minutes for Q&A. More information about this licensing opportunity can be found here.
Historically, carbon fiber has been too expensive for widespread use in automobiles and other high-volume industrial applications. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a new process to produce industrial-grade structural carbon fiber and flame-retardant fibers from commercially-available low-cost textile-grade acrylic fiber precursor materials. A detailed analysis of the new process compared to a published baseline for conventional carbon fiber production examined manufacturing costs of nine major process steps, starting with the precursor and pretreatment and finishing with surface treatment, sizing, winding, inspection and shipping. The analysis revealed the new process yields significant reductions in materials, energy, capital and labor costs resulting in an overall manufacturing cost reduction of up to 50 percent. (The process was developed in the DOE Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTF), a semi-production scale facility open to industry and academic researchers, with funding from the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing and Vehicle Technology Offices).
ORNL will competitively select between three and five partners to commercialize this process. Partners will be selected based on their capabilities, business plans, and commitments to manufacture in the United States. No additional licenses will be offered for at least five years.