Everyone is invited to learn how Roane State Community College’s advanced manufacturing programs can help their career at an open house on Tuesday, July 30, at the Clinton Higher Education and Workforce Training Facility at 214 Nave St. in Clinton.
The open house is scheduled from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Visitors are welcome to drop by anytime to learn more about the programs. Employers are also encouraged to attend to learn more about training opportunities for their employees. [Read more…]
Operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility is accepting proposals from companies that want to test low-cost carbon fibers manufactured at the pilot scale plant. Pictured here are textile-grade acrylic fibers entering the first of four oxidation ovens, where they gradually turn from white to yellow, auburn, brown, then black. Once fully oxidized, the fiber is ready to run through the higher-temperature furnaces, which convert the oxidized fiber to carbon fiber. (Submitted photo)
Companies interested in testing the latest in low-cost carbon fiber have a new opportunity to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility.
The CFTF, operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the department’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, opened earlier this year to find ways to reduce carbon fiber production costs and to work with the private sector to stimulate widespread use of the strong, lightweight material.
In its first months of operation, the CFTF used traditional raw materials to assure the new pilot scale manufacturing line would produce a commercial-quality product. With that goal accomplished, the facility now will use less expensive “precursor” materials that can be turned into carbon fiber more cost-effectively. [Read more…]
John Thornton, left, a graduate of Roane State’s Advanced Materials Training and Education Center and an intern at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility, chats with Roane State President Chris Whaley. (Submitted photos)
John Thornton of Clinton graduated from Roane State Community College’s Advanced Materials Training and Education Center, or AMTEC, a year ago.
Today, he works in one of the most innovative places in the country.
“It’s been an amazing experience,†Thornton said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of this and hopefully develop a career out of it.â€
Thornton is one of 13 AMTEC trainees interning at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility. The $35 million plant is a new advanced manufacturing facility designed to reduce the cost of carbon fiber—a critical material for efficient, lightweight vehicles, next-generation wind turbines, and a wide array of other consumer and industrial products. [Read more…]
Eric Cantor
Submitted
Business, community, and political leaders and senior decision-makers will convene at the 2013 Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit next week to discuss issues that are critical to the economic engine of the Tennessee Valley, a press release said.
Hosted by Third District Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, the two-day meeting themed “Securing America’s Future†will focus on energy and environment, innovation and entrepreneurism, public and private partnerships, and advanced manufacturing, the release said.
The Summit will be held at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s New Hope Center in Oak Ridge on May 29-30. [Read more…]
The Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory will hold its monthly luncheon lecture meeting on Tuesday.
The meeting will feature speaker Lonnie J. Love, who will discuss the development of 3-D printing and other advanced manufacturing applications at ORNL, a press release said. [Read more…]
Sudarsanam Suresh Babu
Sudarsanam Suresh Babu, an authority in the production, design, and performance of transforming materials into parts, has been named the 11th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair.
Babu will serve as Governor’s Chair for Advanced Manufacturing. He begins on July 1.
Babu, a professor in the Welding Engineering Program in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University, directed a National Science Foundation Industry and University Cooperative Research center focused on materials joining for energy applications. [Read more…]
Chuck Fleischmann
Third District Rep. Chuck Fleischmann has announced the Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit will be held the last week of May and return to the site where it started 18 years ago—Oak Ridge. The exact dates are being determined based on the schedules of several anticipated national speakers, including U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Senior decision-makers representing academia, government, and industry from Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina will convene in the New Hope Center at Oak Ridge’s Y-12 National Security Complex for the two-day meeting. Fleischmann will serve as host and be joined by of members of the TVC congressional delegation.
