Manufacture of Carbon Fiber Intermediate Products In-Line with Carbon Fiber Production
Published:3/26/2020Description:
The Problem:
Carbon fiber composite materials have expanded significantly over the past 30 years into numerous application areas. However, continued growth is limited due to high costs of the materials and the cost to produce intermediate products such as pre-impregnated tapes and compounded molding pellets that are needed for downstream application manufacturing processes. The costs of these intermediate products can double the composite material costs for many applications.
The Solution:
Researchers at the University of Tennessee have invented a series of in-line manufacturing steps to produce carbon fiber–reinforced/polymer matrix composite intermediate products at a nearly 40% cost reduction. This in-line impregnation of carbon fiber with thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers can be inserted after surface treatment or after sizing to produce carbon fiber intermediate products such as continuous tapes or rods, and discontinuous flakes or pellets and other similar derivative products.
Benefits:
- Significantly reduce costs of carbon fiber composite intermediate products leading to expanded applications of carbon fiber composites and lowering costs of existing applications.
- Can easily be implemented into new or existing carbon fiber manufacturing lines with low capital investment.
- Applicable to numerous processes including injection molding, extrusion, pultrusion, etc.
- Patent pending
The Inventors:
Dr. Uday Vaidya is the Governor’s Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing at the University of Tennessee, as well as the Director of the Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility at UT and IACMI’s CTO. His research interests include advanced composites, manufacturing composite materials, and R&D of engineered products.
Mr. George Husman is the former CTO of Zoltek Corporation. Mr. Husman began his career with the U.S. Air Force and has held senior positions at BASF, Southern Research Institute, University of Alabama Birmingham, and Zoltek. Throughout his entire career, his research interests have included composite materials, and manufacturing technologies and applications.