Note: This article originally appeared on teknovation.biz on May 1, 2018. By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, Pershing Yoakley & Associates. P.C. Rob Klawonn, a well-known executive in the carbon…
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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.
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. Appoints Paresh Chari of Mexichem to Board of Directors
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., March 29, 2018 — 4M Carbon Fiber Corp. (4M) announced today that Paresh Chari, President and CEO of Mexichem Fluent Group, a $3+ billion division of Mexichem has been appointed to the Company’s Board of…
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. Represented at the Engineering and Technology Employer Roundtable
4M Carbon Fiber Corp. expresses thanks to William Wallace and Dr. Joshua Nowak for their willingness to pour into the up and coming workforce by participating in a Knoxville Leadership…
4M Carbon Fiber Technicians Gain Composites Skills Through IACMI Partnership
Three 4M Carbon Fiber Corp. technicians completed multiple Tooling U-SME courses related to the production of carbon fiber and composites. The courses include topics such as electrical circuits and equipment…
4M Technologies, now publicly held, tackles carbon fiber demand with plasma
In the face of increasing demand, 4M, now a publicly traded company, is revolutionizing commercial carbon fiber manufacturing with plasma. 4M Industrial Oxidation, a Knoxville company that is commercializing a new…
Breakthrough in Patented Plasma Oxidation Technology Cuts Carbon-Fiber Cost – Knoxville, TN
Breakthrough in plasma oxidation technology reduces carbon fiber cost, production, time and energy consumption.
SAE: Plasma process could cut carbon fiber costs
Carbon fiber is to composites as steel rebar is to concrete. When a support skeleton of either is embedded inside a solidifying mass of resin or cement, the strong sinews…
CompositeWorld: ORNL licenses RMX plasma technology for carbon fiber production
ORNL licenses RMX plasma technology for carbon fiber production : CompositesWorld RMX Technologies (Knoxville, TN, US) and the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN) have signed…