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Partners to Develop Composite Door Under DOE Contract

A team led by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based TPI Composites Inc. has been awarded a $3 million program by the U.S. Dept. of Energy to develop and demonstrate an ultra-lightweight composite door.

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A team led by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based TPI Composites Inc. has been awarded a $3 million program by the U.S. Dept. of Energy to develop and demonstrate an ultra-lightweight composite door for a vehicle.

Other participants include Creative Foam Corp., Hexion Inc., KraussMaffei, Saertex USA LLC, the University of Delaware’s Center for Composite Materials and an unnamed carmaker.

The partners say they will use “predictive engineering” tools to optimize materials and processes for high-volume production applications. They note that composite structures typically have been too costly to produce for mass-production vehicles.

TPI produces composite windmill blades for the wind energy market and structural composite products for the transportation industry. 

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