The US University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) has received a US$1 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to continue its research in developing low-cost, high-strength carbon fiber.
The center's Carbon Materials Technologies Group received the award for a project entitled ‘Precursor Processing Development for Low Cost, High Strength Carbon Fiber for Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel Applications.’ The funding is part of DOE’s strategy to invest in materials for hydrogen storage and for fuel cells onboard light-duty vehicles.
The team will investigate issues in precursor fiber development that can contribute to the cost of carbon fiber, namely high polymer cost, inefficient water use and solvent recovery, low fiber throughput, energy intensive conversion, and high coefficient of variation (CV). If successful, the project could lower the cost of high quality carbon fibers by over 50%, the researchers say.
‘We appreciate DOE's confidence in our carbon fiber research and development efforts here at UK CAER,’ said Matt Weisenberger, associate director of the Carbon Materials Technologies Group. ‘It is our hope that this project will show great promise for the future of carbon fiber for pressure vessels and many other commercial applications.’
This story is reprinted from material from the University of Kentucky, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
