News Release

Light-weight auto parts goal of $1.8 million Virginia Tech / Clemson project

Grant and Award Announcement

Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding a $1.8 million project at Virginia Tech and Clemson University aimed at the development of low-cost carbon fiber for use in making light-weight automotive parts.

Professors Don Baird and Garth Wilkes of chemical engineering and Jim McGrath of chemistry are directing the project at Virginia Tech. The program is a combined effort of the Materials Institute, Center for Composite Materials and Structures, and Polymer Materials and Interfaces Laboratory at Tech, and the Center for Fiber and Film at Clemson.

DOE is interested in conserving fuel by finding ways to produce automotive body parts that weigh less than standard steel parts. One solution is to use plastics reinforced with carbon fiber, Baird says. Plastics are much lighter than steel, but must be reinforced with carbon fiber in order to have strength and stiffness comparable to steel.

The goal of the Virginia Tech/Clemson project is to substantially reduce the costs of carbon fibers, Baird explains. Currently, carbon fiber suitable for automotive use costs about $8 per pound. The Virginia Tech and Clemson researchers hope to develop a carbon fiber that can be produced for less than $5 per pound, Baird says. The approach to reducing the cost is to develop a new polymer, or plastic, to serve as a precursor to the carbon fiber. This new polymer could be processed more cheaply than existing polymers and would contain a higher percentage of carbon in the final fiber. The production of low-cost carbon fiber would have numerous applications outside the automotive industry, including bridge construction and aerospace and military uses.

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PR CONTACT: Liz Crumbley
(540) 231-9772 or lcrumb@vt.edu


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