57 Firms Join Advanced Composites Initiative
January 12, 2015The White House says that 57 companies are participating in the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), a public-private partnership aimed at creating jobs and boosting manufacturing within the automotive, wind turbine and compressed gas storage industries.
The Institute will focus on advanced fiber-reinforced polymer composites that combine strong fibers with tough plastics to yield materials that are lighter and stronger than steel.
The 57 companies involved are: A&P Technology, Adherent Technologies, Altair, Ashland Performance Materials, Assembly Guidance Systems, BASF, Boeing, Celanese International, Continental Structural Plastics, Convergent Manufacturing Technologies, Cytec Engineered Materials, Dassault Systemes Americas, Dow Chemical, DowAksa, DuPont, ESI North America, Evonik, Faurecia US Holdings, Fives, Ford, GE Water & Power, Graco, GrafTech International, Heil Trailer International, Herty Advanced Materials Development Center, Hills, Honda R&D Americas, Huntsman Polyurethanes, IN3 Applications, Johns Manville, LayStitch Technologies, LM Wind Power, Local Motors, Lockheed Martin, Materials Innovation Technologies, McWhinney Real Estate Services, Michelman, Milacron Plastics Technologies Group, Momentive, North Coast Tool & Mold, Owens Corning, Phoenix Integration, PolyNEW, PolyOne, PPG Industries, SABIC Innovative Plastics US, SAERTEX USA, Strongwell, Thogus Products, Toray Composites (America), TPI Composites, Vestas Americas, Volkswagen, Wetzel Engineering, Williams White & Co. and Xperion.
Advanced composites are used in selective industries such as aircraft, satellites and cars, but these materials remain expensive, require large amounts of energy to manufacture and can be difficult to recycle. IACMI is dedicated to overcoming these barriers by developing low-cost, high-production, energy-efficient manufacturing and recycling processes for composites applications.
IACMI is the fifth named Institute and a step toward fulfilling President Barack Obama's vision of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.
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