LIFT, a public-private partnership to develop and deploy advanced lightweight materials and IACMI, The Composites Institute, have invested nearly US$50 million to expand their shared composite manufacturing facility in Detroit, USA.
The investment will be made over the next 24 months and will include the acquisition and installation of new manufacturing equipment to increase the capabilities of the institute, as well as construction and infrastructure upgrades for the facility to support the new equipment.
The investments will allow institute members, partners and others in the industry to conduct research and development projects, in both lightweight metals and advanced composites. It will also provide education space for students and adult learners focused on the composites and lightweight materials industries.
The nearly US$50 million investment will comprise LIFT’s US$20.5 million and IACMI’s US$18 million towards equipment with the rest supporting facility updates and upgrades. Some of the equipment slated for installation includes hydroforming and extrusion presses, a flexible-robot joining cell, and a linear friction welder for LIFT, and for IACMI compression and injection molding presses, prepreg equipment, induction processing and an RTM/liquid compression molding machine.
This story is reprinted from material from LIFT, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.
