{"id":13798,"date":"2016-04-07T09:38:13","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T08:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/?p=13798"},"modified":"2016-04-07T09:49:29","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T08:49:29","slug":"ornl-looks-to-licence-its-low-cost-carbon-fibre-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2016\/04\/ornl-looks-to-licence-its-low-cost-carbon-fibre-process\/","title":{"rendered":"ORNL Looks to Licence Its Low Cost Carbon Fibre Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers at the Department of Energy\u2019s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a production method they estimate will reduce the cost of carbon fibre as much as 50% and the energy used in its production by more than 60%.<\/p>\n

After analysis and successful prototyping by industrial partners, ORNL is making the new method available for licensing.<\/p>\n

High cost has been the single largest roadblock to widespread use of carbon fibre as a strong, stiff reinforcement for advanced composites. ORNL\u2019s new lower cost method builds on over a decade of research in the area. The researchers\u2019 success promises to accelerate adoption of carbon fibre composites in high-volume industrial applications including automobiles, wind turbines, compressed gas storage and building infrastructure.<\/p>\n

More than 90% of the energy needed to manufacture these advanced composites is consumed in manufacturing the carbon fibre itself. Reduction in energy consumption in manufacturing will enable earlier net energy payback\u2014that is, the energy savings gained in using products made from lighter-weight material compared to the energy consumed in making the material. Similarly, ORNL is working as a technology partner at the IACMI to enable the use of low-cost carbon fibre composites in a wide range of next-generation clean energy products.<\/p>\n

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