Dow Chemicals to build IACMI

THE Obama Administration has selected Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) to establish the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI).

 

Dow will work with its joint venture, DowAksa, and a consortium of composites-related businesses, academic leaders, and government organizations.

 

Responding to market requirements for strong, lightweight materials, IACMI will help boost knowledge and commercialization of carbon fiber composites. It will create a platform to overcome technological and cost issues hampering the large-scale adoption of carbon fiber composites in industrial sectors such as the pressure vessel, infrastructure and wind, and automotive fields.

 

IACMI demonstrated this initiative by creating a platform for the partnership between Ford and DowAksa, which aims to develop manufacturing innovations in automotive-grade carbon fiber. This collaboration started in 2012 with a joint development agreement between Ford and Dow to develop lost-cost, high-volume carbon fiber composites.

 

DowAksa is a 50/50 joint venture between Dow and Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii A.Ş., one of the world’s largest acrylic fiber manufacturers based in Turkey. Since establishment in 2012, it has become a leader in carbon fiber and carbon fiber intermediates and high-quality composite materials.

 

According to Heinz Haller, Dow executive vice president and Board chairman of DowAksa, “IACMI enables further growth with our commercial partners such as Ford to meet demands for lighter weight, competitively priced composite automotive parts.”

 

Haller further stated that “Dow recognizes the importance of public-private partnerships such as IACMI to create innovative and strategic commercial opportunities aligned to attractive, high-volume industrial markets.”

 

Doug Parks, Dow’s global director of Lightweight Materials and Government Markets and a DowAksa Board member, said, “IACMI provides us the perfect venue to de-risk and accelerate many of the significant innovations required to meet the high-volume and competitive pricing requirements of our partner Ford.”