Materials Innovation Technologies serves the needs of emerging technologies representing a variety of industries. The following case studies provide examples of the scope of work and the services we offer.
Bipolar Plate for Fuel Cell Stacks
Development Areas
SBIR Phase One Report
SBIR Phase Two Report
Bipolar Plate for Fuel Cell Stacks
The bipolar plate for fuel cell stacks provides one of the best examples of the products and services offered by Materials Innovation Technologies. As one of the critical components of fuel cell technology, the need exists for a highly electrical conductive material to form a plate with a complex flow field pattern on each side. The materials and the processing for this bipolar plate must be scaleable to very high volumes (1M plates/day) at a very low cost (DOE target of $2.00/plate). Currently, conventional materials and processes do not meet the technical specifications and are too costly to produce.
There is tremendous opportunity in fuel cell technology for the alternative energy sector. We can create a technical solution within our collaborative partnerships in advanced materials, tooling and mold building, molding manufacturing, equipment fabricating and scale-up engineering that will allow us to provide a scaleable, affordable and effective product for the emerging technology.
By coordinating the technical solutions to enable commercialization in a variety of emerging technology industries, Materials Innovation Technologies serves as the single entity for comprehensive, turnkey project management. It is our objective to be the most responsive and cost-effective producer of materials, components and or subassemblies to facilitate commercialization of emerging technologies.
As an example of the vast and massive opportunities that lie in the field of emerging technology, Materials Innovation Technologies is currently working in three development areas that could quickly magnify in scope. During the formation of MIT, we were presented with development prospects in nanotechnology, electric/hybrid locomotives and unmanned aircraft that include:
- High-volume/low-cost molding of advanced materials in complex shapes. The aerospace and fuel cell industries are both now looking for these breakthroughs to facilitate commercialization.
- Unique molding of lightweight automotive components.
- Prototype molds and tools for advanced material molding.
Each of these development areas is synergistic with our strategy to bring materials, tooling and manufacturing together for a winning innovative solution. Government agencies and large corporations are funding all three areas.
SBIR
Phase I:
Low Cost Carbon Filter
Composites for Lightweight
Vehicle Parts
It’s been estimated that a 10% reduction in the weight of a vehicle reduces fuel consumption by 6-8% and, over the lifetime of a vehicle, results in a 20 kg reduction of CO2. Weight reduction, or “lightweighting,” is included in many government and private programs including: DOE Office of Transportation Technology’s Automotive Lightweighting Materials Program (ALM); U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR); and the U.S. Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP).
In the SBIR Phase I Project, MIT adapted an improved version of their pulp molding technology to make carbon fiber pre-forms or lightweight auto parts. MIT modified and refined the basic pulp molding process and applied it to articles that require high tolerance with respect to geometry, density and other properties. A die was designed and built to produce B pillar sections as a test and demonstration of the concept. Pulp molding slurries were developed and shown to yield pre-forms of exceptional uniformity, strength and dimensional control. The forming rate was shown to be a fraction of conventional techniques, even at this early non-automated stage.
During Phase One, MIT successfully:
- Produced a carbon fiber pre-form with exceptionally uniform fiber density
- Demonstrated excellent dimension control
- Characterized fiber orientation at key locations in the part
- Demonstrated significantly reduced cycle times (10 sec. vs. 2 min.)
With its success in Phase One, MIT will begin Phase Two: to complete the development of this technology by focusing on a component that will be commercially viable. At the completion of this next phase, MIT is anticipating a process capable of producing prototypes for testing.
To read the complete Case Study for SBIR Phase One, click here.
SBIR
Phase II:
Low Cost Carbon Filter
Composites for Lightweight
Vehicle Parts
The goal of the project is to develop at pilot scale a potentially low-cost, high-volume production process for making net-shape, carbon-fiber composites for use in polymer composite automobile parts. The main technical focus of the project is making components and optimizing their manufacture using the Three Dimensional Engineered Preform (3-DEP) fiber forming process.
The overall objective of the DOE SBIR Phase II project is to complete the development of the technology started in the Phase I SBIR project by focusing on a complex-shaped component that will be commercially viable. The component chosen for the Phase II project is the front wheelhouse lower support for the Corvette. This part is currently manufactured by our partner in the project, the Molded Fiber Glass Companies (http://www.moldedfiberglass.com). At the completion of Phase II, we will have a process producing trial parts for evaluation by an automobile manufacturer, GM.
Specifically, the technical objectives of our Phase II project are to:
- Optimize tooling development and how it influences fiber placement in the preform
- Optimize carbon fiber slurry development and how it affects preform properties
- Develop process capabilities to include material handling, preform molding, preform drying, and reducing preform variability.
- Build a process cost model.
- Write training and quality manuals.
Progress to date has been excellent. We have conducted eight initial runs of carbon fiber preforms. The tests comprised between 16 and 40 parts each; we ran 14 x 14 inch flat plaques and the Corvette wheelhouse part. The part-to-part coefficient of variation (COV = standard deviation/mean, %) was between 0.8 % and 4.9 % depending on the part being formed, the mass of the part, and the fiber length. The within-part COV for flat plaques in 1-inch long carbon fiber was between 6 % and 10 %. This is good repeatability for preforms considering that no optimization of the process has been done so far.
We have made substantial modifications to the 3-DEP lab-scale machine that should allow us to achieve forming consistency from part to part and within part that are acceptable to the automotive community. We have also demonstrated the ability to make preform molds that will produce good quality parts in a cost effective manner. Additional work in Year 2 will extend our ability to inexpensively and rapidly make preform molds.
Twenty five carbon fiber preforms of the Corvette lower wheelhouse support and twelve 14 x 14 inch flat preforms were sent to MFG in April 2007 for molding in polyester. Preliminary molding trials have been favorable. By the end of Year 1, we will have conducted at least two more molding trials and will have tensile and flexural property data from the flat plaques at two or three fiber loadings.
Top view of the Corvette lower wheelhouse support carbon fiber preform made using the 3-DEP forming process; 1-inch chopped carbon fibers; as formed – not trimmed. Part-to-part COV for part weight was 4.4%.
To read the complete Case Study for SBIR Phase Two, click here.