Jan 12 2015
President Obama has announced a new multistate Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI). A state-of-the art Vanderbilt laboratory, which explores how machines, materials and structures function under real-world conditions, will play an integral role in this new $259 million institute.
Doug Adams (Vanderbilt University)
IACMI would become the fifth institute to be selected in support of the President’s vision for the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. This public-private affiliation was chosen via a competitive process, which was headed by the Advanced Manufacturing Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy (DOE). One of the institute’s supporting partners, Vanderbilt was chosen for its know-how in sophisticated composite fields related to IACMI.
Led by the University of Tennessee, the application submitted at the DOE was chosen for negotiation to set up the IACMI. The IACMI group will develop composite materials and technologies that would not only be cost-effective, but would also be energy-efficient. These technologies will be used in automotive manufacturing and other high-production industries.
Doug Adams, Daniel F. Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, will guide Vanderbilt’s efforts. He will carry out the study for IACMI’s Composite Materials and Process Technology focus area.
The aim of this focus area is to expedite prototyping and upgrade technologies in composites manufacturing and carbon fiber production, including nondestructive assessment of composites, 3-D printing, and composites recycling.
A large part of Vanderbilt’s work will be carried out at the Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability, which is co-directed by Adams, while the remaining work will be conducted in another place in association with Oak Ridge.
According to Adams, the study will provide immense training opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students. It will focus on making composite-fabricating machines smarter.
Although sophisticated composites are already being utilized in satellites, aircraft, and military vehicles, they are costly and subjected to extensive testing procedures, thus making them unsuitable for high-manufacturing industries such as wind turbines, cars, and compressed gas storage.
Dean of Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Philippe Fauchet praised the new partnership and said that the School of Engineering strives to solve real-world issues that have major impacts. Doug’s efforts to improve these energy-efficient technologies and materials will significantly help in developing the US manufacturing industry.
In addition, Adams has joined forces with Vanderbilt colleagues for basic research on nano-engineered composites that are capable of sensing and reacting to their environment. According to Adams, this type of national project in next-generation composites manufacturing would make it easier to implement such technologies in the future.
Vanderbilt Engineering Lab Playing Key Role in New Composite Manufacturing Institute
The IACMI consortium headquartered in Tennessee intends to establish a not-for-profit that links the world’s top producers across the supply chain with national laboratories and universities pioneering research and development on sophisticated composites technology.
I’m excited that Vanderbilt is a partner in this game-changing initiative to realize the Department of Energy’s vision for advanced composites technology and a highly trained and skilled workforce. Our sponsors in industry and research labs across the country are looking for students who can speak the language of composites as they enter the workforce.
It’s critical that advanced composite materials are of a high quality when they are made and then maintain their quality as they are used. We are developing the measurement tools that will give intelligence to the machines that make these materials, enabling workers to be able to quickly test and correct material quality on the fly.
The ability to do this kind of rapid evaluation and correction will help to bring the cost of these high-performance composite materials within reach of a much wider range of industries, said Doug Adams, Daniel F. Flowers Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Our colleagues at the University of Tennessee assembled a tremendously talented team from around the country to develop this proposal, which includes leadership from the state of Tennessee and world-class researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The team has the creative set of ideas, key infrastructure, and strong relationships with industry that will drive innovation across the entire composites manufacturing supply chain and shine a spotlight on innovation in our state. We are thrilled that Vanderbilt is part of this effort, said Susan Wente, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.