Braskem and WEAV3D® Win the Altair Enlighten 2024 Future of Lightweighting Award
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.
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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.
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