Using composites to lightweight ships is gaining momentum. Several groups are available for materials and technology suppliers to join and help develop cost-effective solutions. This Blog Post originally appeared on…
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New Study Examines Benefits of Composites in the Rail Sector
A recent report from the European Pultrusion Technology Association (EPTA) predicts growth for pultruded composites in the rail sector. This article originally appeared in Composites World on 11/1/2018 by SARA BLACK Applications for…
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. Joins the Composite Applications Group (CAG)
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. recently joined the Composite Applications Group (CAG), a consortium of companies that produce carbon fiber, use fiber in composite parts, deploy advanced CFRP technologies, and utilize…
CFRP Innovations Gaining Speed
NOTE: This is an excerpt of an article that originally appeared in Composites Manufacturing Magazine’s September/October 2018 issue. by Patrice Aylward New technologies to process carbon fiber and convert it…
University of Maine and AIT Co-Design Carbon Fiber “Bridge in a Backpack”
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. is always interested in new and innovative uses of carbon fiber in various settings, applications, and industries. We recently came across this video from the AEWC Advanced…
4M and RMX Host IACMI Interns to Support the Next Generation of Composites Workers
4M and RMX are participating for a second year in IACMI’s internship program by hosting three college students as interns in the coming months. Aaron Sink, from Pellissippi State Community…
4M Carbon Fiber Corp Short-lists Tennessee and Georgia as Site Selection is Underway for Production Lines
4M is making progress on selection of the site for building the carbon fiber product demonstration line using the advanced atmospheric plasma oxidation. The site selection team is also evaluating…
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. Hires Seasoned Industry Expert as CEO
May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — 4M Carbon Fiber Corp. (4M) announced today that Rob Klawonn has joined the Company as Chief Executive Officer to lead the commercialization of their industry-disruptive carbon fiber production technology…
4M announces joint effort with Oak Ridge National Lab and RMX Technologies to demonstrate standard modulus carbon fiber from textile PAN4M Carbon Fiber Corp. (4M) is pleased to announce its involvement with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), RMX Technologies, LLC (RMX) and The University of Tennessee on a government-funded project to demonstrate the use of 4M’s atmospheric plasma oxidation with low cost precursor to manufacture low cost industrial grade carbon fiber. The project objective is to demonstrate that standard modulus carbon fiber can be made from textile grade PAN precursor using significantly less energy and in less than half the processing time, thus cutting the manufacturing cost by about 50%.
About half of the cost of producing carbon fiber is in the acrylic fiber, commonly called PAN, used as starting material. The other half of the cost is in the conversion process from PAN to carbon fiber. Plasma oxidation technology has been demonstrated by numerous international carbon fiber makers to be much faster and use significantly less energy while making a better fiber. Combining the benefits of this technology with the low cost of textile fiber has the potential to cut the manufacturing cost in half. This would make carbon fiber available for more automotive light weighting uses and open up markets for strong and lightweight materials that have been constrained by high manufacturing cost.
4M and RMX became engaged in this project I in order to obtain the advanced analysis capabilities of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Both entities are well known in the carbon fiber industry for the development of new materials, processes and analysis techniques. 4M’s atmospheric plasma oxidation technology was developed by ORNL and RMX Technologies and exclusively licensed to 4M Carbon Fiber Corp for commercialization.
Dr. Dayakar Penumadu, who holds a Fred N. Peebles Professorship in the College of Engineering, will serve as a lead investigator at the University of Tennessee leveraging significant resources for this project through the Joint Institute for Advanced Materials (JIAM) and Science and Engineering Research Facility (SERF) laboratories.
“Low-cost carbon fiber composites have the potential to transform structural and functional materials, they provide a materials/structural designer/manufacturer with a material whose stiffness is higher than steel with weight lower than aluminum, and most importantly, one that can withstand harsh environments without problems associated with corrosion,“ Penumadu said. He added, “This project led by 4M is very exciting.” Dr. Penumadu, who serves as an IACMI Characterization fellow for Materials and Processing directorate, is looking forward to working with RMX and ORNL colleagues who have pioneered the original atmospheric plasma oxidation technology for rapidly processing carbon-rich polymer precursors into carbon fibers.
Meet the 4M Team | Joshua Nowak, Ph.D., Plasma Engineer – Q&A
First of all, “Plasma Engineer”…it’s a real thing? It can mean different things in different professions, but to me it encompasses the plasma processing knowledge (physical and chemical etching,…
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