Oak Ridge Today



Historic flat top house moving from AMSE to Children’s Museum

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The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade will be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, officials said Monday, Sept. 10. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade will be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, officials said Monday, Sept. 10. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade will be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on October 2, project officials said Monday.

The Children’s Museum kicked off a Go Fund Me campaign for the project on Monday, inviting the community to help raise $25,000 to support the move and preserve and maintain the flat top.

The Children’s Museum said it offered to give the flat top a new home when AMSE announced that it is moving to Main Street Oak Ridge. The former AMSE location on South Tulane Avenue, which had been used for about four decades, closed in late July. The new AMSE location at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall, is expected to open in October. There isn’t enough space to keep the flat top as an exhibit at the new AMSE, a press release said.

But the Children’s Museum does have room for the flat top on its property, the press release said. The flat top will be southeast of the museum building, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in north Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum to celebrate national parks at gala in December

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childrens-museum-gala-2016

Martha Hart of Karen’s Jewelers, left, with Lee McGetrick and Mike Morris, all members of the Children’s Museum Gala Committee, display a National Park poster for the Gala, which will celebrate the National Park Service Centennial. (Submitted photo)

 

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Park Service at its annual Gala Evening, a benefit for the museum on Friday, December 2.

“Tribute to the National Parks—A Centennial Celebration” will feature National Park trivia and prizes, National Park-inspired cuisine by Rosa’s Catering, music from the Oak Ridge High School Choral Ensemble, an exhibition of children’s photographs from the parks, and a surprise for Gala attendees.

The Gala will be an official National Park Service Centennial Event. In honor of that designation, the museum will offer free admission Saturday and Sunday, December 3 and 4, inviting the public to view the “Parks-in-Focus” National Parks photography exhibit in the Imagination Gallery. Photos of area parks taken by girls from Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge will be shown in the exhibit.

Guests are invited to come dressed to represent a favorite National Park or in semi-formal attire to the Gala, to be held from 5:30-9:30 p.m. December 2 at the museum, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

ORNL makes low-cost carbon fiber available to American manufacturers

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Carbon Fiber Technology Facility

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…]

Roane State, ORNL, industries train workers in composites, advanced manufacturing

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John Thornton at Carbon Fiber Technology Facility

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.”

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…]

Oak Ridge carbon fiber plant could lower cost of strong, lightweight material

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Carbon Fiber Technology Facility

Gary R. Lownsdale of Plasan Carbon Composites, right, talks to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, center, near a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 hood at the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility on Tuesday as federal, University of Tennessee, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials listen.

A unique manufacturing plant in west Oak Ridge that started operating about six weeks ago can make 25 tons of carbon fiber each year. It’s material that could be used for prototype parts in products ranging from cars and airplanes to wind turbine blades and natural gas tanks.

The $35 million Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Horizon Center Business Park is designed to “scale up” laboratory research on low-cost carbon fiber, make enough material to help industrial partners build prototype carbon-fiber composite parts, and develop a skilled manufacturing workforce.

Carbon fiber is strong and lightweight, but it is also expensive and that has limited its use.

Officials hope to use the 42,000-square-foot Carbon Fiber Technology Facility to change that. They want to make producing carbon fiber as cost-efficient as manufacturing steel or aluminum. [Read more…]

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