A Tennessee research institute formed in 2015 to develop new composite materials for American manufacturers became the first of the nation’s 16 clean energy institutes to have its federal funding renewed Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy.
DOE said it will provide another $6 million in the next year to support the Knoxville-based Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, which has already received $70 million of federal funding and $180 million of support from its member partners for research and commercialization of new materials.
“IACMI is living, breathing proof that when we connect our nation’s leading experts across the manufacturing value chain to listen, learn and share ideas and best practices, we can have a big impact,” DOE acting Assistant Secretary Alejandro Moreno said during a ribbon-cutting for a new institute collaboration facility.
In its first eight years, the composite materials research institute has already developed stronger and lighter-weight materials used in more than 60 industry-led technical projects. Among the projects the institute has helped has been the development of a composite used by Volkswagen for the lift gates on the Chattanooga-made VW Atlas. The new composite is 35% lighter and 9% cheaper than the steel composites it replaced.
Jeff McCay, president of the Chattanooga-based Composites Application Group, said businesses in his group have partnered with the institue and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2008, when the federal lab was first awarded $30 million to develop low-cost carbon fiber. McCay said the Composites Application Group, which is wholly owned by Top Five Inc. in Chattanooga, is one of more than 100 companies that have worked with the Knoxville institute to develop and commercialize a number of composite materials for different manufacturing and transportation use.