Michelman has been chosen to be part of an elite, 122-member consortium that will make up the new Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI).  Michelman brings an experienced and talented team of reinforced plastic composites specialists, and a long history of innovative product development successes, particularly with its Hydrosize film forming dispersions that optimize the surface chemistry of the reinforcement fibers that are integral to the performance of composites.

Led by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the IACMI connects the world’s leading manufacturers across the supply chain, with universities and national laboratories pioneering advanced composites technology development and research.  It will focus on lowering the cost of advanced fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials by 50%, reducing the energy used to make composites by 75% and increasing the recyclability of composites to more than 95% within the next decade.

The new Institute is a $259 million public-private partnership made possible by a $70 million commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and $189 million from IACMI’s partners.  It will help advance the state of knowledge and commercialization of carbon fiber composites technology in response to market demands for strong, lightweight materials by creating a platform to overcome technological and cost barriers to the wide-scale adoption of carbon fiber composites in a variety of industrial sectors, including pressure vessel, infrastructure and wind, and automotive.

While advanced composites are used in selected industries such as aircraft, military vehicles, satellites, and luxury cars, these materials can be relatively 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.