The WEAV3D, Clemson Composites Center &
Braskem Partnership won for their Rebar for Plastics® Lattice
Technology
Rebar for Plastics® combines Braskem's
polypropylene sheets with WEAV3D’s lattice technology to provide
new structural and automotive solutions requiring high-strength and
lightweight materials
Braskem (B3: BRKM3, BRKM5, and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK)
the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas, as well as a
global market leader and pioneer producer of biopolymers on an
industrial scale, and WEAV3D Inc., an advanced manufacturing and
materials startup, today announced Braskem's and WEAV3D Inc.'s
thermoplastic composite lattice technology, in partnership with the
Clemson Composites Center at Clemson University, were named first
place winners of the 2024 Altair Enlighten Award’s Future of
Lightweighting category. The award recognized the partnerships’
cost-effective lightweight solution to enhance the performance of
PP for structural automotive applications.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240812821972/en/
Beltline Stiffener Photo Credit:
WEAV3D
Joel Carr, Technical Service and Development Engineering Team
Leader, Braskem America, stated, “Braskem is honored to be
recognized by Altair as the winner of the 2024 Future of
Lightweighting category which recognizes new material technologies
that have significant potential to transform and advance vehicle
lightweighting. The partnership between WEAV3D, Clemson Composites
Center, and Braskem combined to create a truly innovative material
that provides for more sustainable lightweight solution to help
reduce vehicle carbon emissions all while enhancing manufacturing
process value through material cost savings. This is a win-win for
our clients and the planet.”
The combination of WEAV3D composite lattice reinforcement with
Braskem PP enables lighter and less expensive thermoplastic
solutions than conventional organosheet, unlocking new
opportunities for the cost-effective replacement of sheet metal
structures with thermoplastics throughout the vehicle.
“We are incredibly grateful to Altair and CAR for selecting us
for such a prestigious award,” says Christopher Oberste, President
and Chief Engineer of WEAV3D Inc. “This award validates the
technical development and commercialization progress we have
achieved over the past several years and recognizes the importance
of WEAV3D’s cost-effective lightweighting technology as part of the
future of sustainable mobility. Using the right material in the
right place keeps cost and waste low, while still delivering
substantial weight savings and performance benefits to our
automotive customers.”
The Altair Enlighten Award honors the greatest sustainability
and lightweighting advancements that successfully reduce carbon
footprint, mitigate water and energy consumption, and leverage
material reuse and recycling efforts. The Enlighten Award showcases
the latest and greatest technology innovations dedicated to
sustainability and garners interest from industry, engineering,
policymakers, educators, students, and the public alike. The
Enlighten Award is presented annually in conjunction with the
Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and was presented this year on
August 6, 2024, at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars.
“We collaborated with WEAV3D and Braskem to develop an
industry-first high-rate structural automotive prototype that
showcases WEAV3D’s tunable woven composite technology and Braskem's
cost-effective PP resin, leveraging our extensive experience in
stamp-forming thermoplastic composites from the US Department of
Energy's Ultra-Lightweight Door program," says Sai Aditya Pradeep,
former Manufacturing Applications Engineer and Project Lead for
Clemson.
Benefits of using WEAV3D's Rebar for Plastics® and Braskem
Polypropylene vs. conventional composite organosheet:
- LIGHTWEIGHT – Reduces sheet blank weight by ~50% and
final part weight by ~23%
- COST EFFECTIVE – Reduces costs by ~50%
- EFFICIENT – Increases sheet yield from 25% to 45% by
weight, resulting in a 62% reduction in trim waste
For more information on WEAV3D's Rebar for Plastics® with
Braskem’s PP, visit
https://weav3d.com/cost-effective-automotive-body-structures.
Braskem will exhibit at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE)
TPO Global Automotive Conference in Troy, Michigan from September
29 - October 2, 2024.
ABOUT WEAV3D Inc.
WEAV3D Inc. is an innovator in composite materials,
manufacturing processes and processing equipment. Headquartered in
Norcross, GA, they originated as a technology startup within the
Materials Science and Engineering department at the Georgia
Institute of Technology. The patent-pending WEAV3D composite
forming process enables the production of optimized lattice
structures that can be combined with injection molding or
thermoforming processes to create lightweight structural composite
parts at a fraction of the cost and cycle time associated with
traditional composite manufacturing. These innovations enable
companies in industries such as automotive, aircraft, wind
turbines, and cargo transportation to produce parts that are
lighter, stronger and less expensive. For more information, visit
www.weav3d.com.
ABOUT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
One of the most productive public research universities in the
nation, Clemson University enrolls 27,341 students across the State
of South Carolina and has an endowment of over $1 billion. The
University operates Extension offices in every county of the state
and has five Innovation Campuses and six Research and Education
Center locations. Classified as an R1 — Very High Research
University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher
Education — Clemson is dedicated to teaching, research and service.
Our main campus, located in Upstate South Carolina, sits on 1,400
acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, along the
shores of Lake Hartwell. Through the research, outreach and
entrepreneurial projects led by our faculty and students, Clemson
University is driving economic development and improving quality of
life in South Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit
https://clemsoncomposites.com.
ABOUT BRASKEM
With a global vision of the future oriented toward people and
sustainability, Braskem is committed to contributing to the value
chain for strengthening the Circular Economy. The petrochemical
company’s almost 9,000 team members dedicate themselves every day
to improving people’s lives through sustainable chemicals and
plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a
comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for
diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction,
manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare, and hygiene,
among others. With 40 industrial units in Brazil, the United
States, Mexico, and Germany, and exports its products to clients in
more than 70 countries.
Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of
Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the
leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with five
production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania, and West
Virginia, an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh, and
operations in Lexington, MA focused on leveraging groundbreaking
developments in biotechnology and advanced materials. For more
information, visit www.braskem.com/usa.
Braskem on English social media:
www.facebook.com/BraskemGlobal
www.linkedin.com/company/braskem
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240812821972/en/
For press information, please contact:
Braskem North America Stacy Torpey – (215) 841 3194 –
stacy.torpey@braskem.com
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