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IACMI names new facility for composites engineering

06 Sep '16

2 min read

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) and The University of Tennessee, Knoxville officials have named a revamped University of Tennessee building as a facility devoted to composites and fibres manufacturing and engineering. It has been named as 'Fibres and Composites Manufacturing Facility and Engineering Annex.'

Over one hundred attendees participated in the naming ceremony and technology demonstration tours on Monday led by Dr. Uday Vaidya, IACMI chief technology officer and Joint University of Tennessee (UT)-Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Governor's Chair in Advanced Composites Manufacturing, and twenty of his engineering students.

The new annex serves as a complementary resource to area facilities such as the Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Dr. Vaidya and his student teams are already heavily engaged in projects and interactions with many of the industry partners in attendance at the event including Volkswagen, Magnum Venus Products, Alcoa, Techmer PM, Gamma 2, Resource Fiber, Minifibers, and Local Motors.

Although the building itself is not new to campus, the newly acquired equipment has expanded facility capabilities allowing Dr. Vaidya's team to conduct research on a real-world, industrial scale. The finished facility should be a structure stop for many tours to The University of Tennessee, IACMI-The Composites Institute and many STEM and recruitment activities in the region. The newly named facility will serve to continually provide experiential learning for students and industry engagement and forms a bridge in advanced composites manufacturing between The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Dr. Craig Blue, IACMI's chief executive officer said, “This facility will provide experiential learning for next generation engineers - undergraduate and graduate students in a real-world manufacturing setting. Our team of researchers and students are exploring the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing. The work being done in this facility by Dr. Vaidya and his team is nothing short of amazing. By adapting manufacturing processes to reflect newly commercialised clean energy manufacturing solutions and training the workforce of the future, this team is enabling national impact.” (GK)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India