Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France champion, celebrated the announcement of LeMond Composites, a new company he co-founded, during a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 12, 2016, at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. The company is expected to make composite bicycles and carbon fiber, and invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

LeMond Composites of Oak Ridge has entered into a global, exclusive 20-year licensing agreement with Deakin University in Australia to commercialize their patent pending manufacturing process to increase production of high performance, low-cost carbon fiber, a press release said.

The licensed process will enable LeMond Composites to commercialize carbon fiber production faster than anyone else currently in the marketplace, the press release said.

“This means LeMond will deliver more of its low-cost carbon fiber faster to industries that benefit from using lighter, stronger materials, like those addressing global energy and transportation challenges,” the press release said.

“Deakin University’s process oxidizes carbon fiber faster, with lower capital and energy costs and greater output of carbon fiber over a shorter period,” said Nicolas Wegener, chief operating officer of LeMond, who negotiated the $44 million dollar deal. “The process requires 75 percent less energy and also reduces the amount of process equipment by 75 percent. These factors make the production of low-cost carbon fiber scalable at a velocity that can keep up with the market demand.” [Read more…]