University of Tennessee to lead national composites institute in US

University of Tennessee (UT), USA, will lead the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), a $259 million public-private partnership. The Institute reflects a $70 million commitment from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and $189 million from IACMI’s partners.
 
Supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, IACMI joins four other institutes backed by the Obama administration in a recent push to accelerate advanced manufacturing.
 
The selected team, a 122-member consortium, connects the world’s leading manufacturers across the supply chain with universities and national laboratories pioneering advanced composites technology development and research.
 
Established as a non-profit in Tennessee by the UT Research Foundation, IACMI has received a $15 million commitment from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development as part of an effort to facilitate breakthroughs in manufacturing and materials.
 
“This project places the university and its partners in a unique position to strengthen Tennessee’s economy,” said UT Chancellor Jimmy G Cheek.
 
The Institutes are regionally organised around five focus areas: vehicles (Michigan); wind turbines (Colorado); compressed gas storage (Ohio); design, modelling, and simulation (Indiana); and composite materials and processing technology (Tennessee supported by Kentucky).
 
IACMI includes founding partners in Tennessee (University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Colorado (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), Indiana (Purdue University), Michigan (Michigan State University), Ohio (University of Dayton Research Institute), and Kentucky (University of Kentucky).
 
The Institute will focus on advanced fibre-reinforced polymer composites that combine strong fibres with tough plastics to yield materials that are lighter and stronger than steel.
 
While advanced composites are used in selected industries such as aircraft, military vehicles, satellites, and luxury cars, these materials remain expensive, require large amounts of energy to manufacture, and are difficult to recycle. IACMI aims to overcome these barriers by developing low-cost, high-production, energy-efficient manufacturing and recycling processes for the composites sector.
 
The plan also dovetails with the DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative by encouraging collaboration and moving ahead with production methods and materials that require less energy and resources.