Future directions for carbon fibre

The third biennial Carbon Fibre Future Directions conference will give a unique insight into significant global developments in innovation of composite materials.

The 44 speakers, including 19 from industry and 16 from overseas, will cover a wide range of topics, including the growing use of carbon fibre by the automotive industry, examples of new carbon fibre applications in buildings and infrastructure, innovative new precursor materials targeting lower production cost and an insight into the growth of the global carbon fibre market.

Executive Director of DowAksa, Mustafa Yilmaz, one of the companies involved in the new Institute of Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), will give an overview of the objectives and challenges to be overcome by the new Institute, which was formally announced by President Obama in January.

Technical Leader for Lightweight Materials R&D at Ford Motor Company, Patrick Blanchard, will discuss the growing use of carbon fibre, particularly in the recently announced Ford GT40 supercar.

DowAksa, Ford, Dow Chemical and the University of Kentucky are all key members of IACMI delegates from these organisations will give a unique insight on how these groups see this new institute developing and contributing to composites manufacturing innovations.

CEO of Carbon Revolution, Dr Jake Dingle, will update the conference on the exciting growth for the company’s lightweight wheel technology for a range of markets.

Professor Bronwyn Fox, Research Director for Carbon Nexus at Deakin University, will also describe the latest developments under way in her team’s understanding of fundamental structure-property relationships and some of their achievements in the rapid curing of composites.

Stuart McKenzie, CEO of ArcActive in New Zealand, will describe how the company is developing a novel lead acid battery electrode for what could be the next generation mass market car – the Micro Hybrid Vehicle.

Conference delegates will also tour the Carbon Nexus facility at Deakin University and see the carbon fibre processing lines in action. Operations Manager for Carbon Nexus, Steve Atkiss, will outline the wide range of processing research which is being undertaken for a number of global industry partners on the lines. For most delegates this will be their first chance to see an industrial-scale carbon fibre production process – which has traditionally been closely held by manufacturers – in operation and up-close.

The conference will be held at the Novotel Geelong (formally known as Four Points Sheraton Hotel) on the Waterfront in Geelong from 24 to 27 February 2015.

More information: Jenny Bungur