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Ford, DowAksa Partner on Carbon Fiber Development
Ford Motor Co. has signed an agreement with DowAksa to develop high-volume production techniques for carbon-fiber-reinforced components for cars.
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Ford Motor Co. has signed an agreement with DowAksa to develop high-volume production techniques for carbon-fiber-reinforced components for cars.
The pact extends Ford's four-month-old collaboration with Istanbul-based DowAksa, a 50:50 venture between Dow Chemical Co. and Turkey's Aksa Akrilik Kimya Sanayii AS, the world's largest producer of acrylic fibers.
Carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics offer light weight and high strength. But producing such components is slow and expensive. Ford says the DowAksa partnership will target lower-cost automotive grades of carbon fiber suitable for aligned and random fiber formats in both thermoset and thermoplastic materials.
The companies aim to combine DowAksa's production capabilities with Ford's design, engineering and manufacturing know-how. Ford notes that the agreement could be extended to include a commercial manufacturing partnership.
Ford announced in January it was collaborating with DowAksa and the U.S. Dept. of Energy to develop automotive-grade carbon fiber. The two companies are part of the Energy Dept.'s newly formed Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville, Tenn.
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