LeMond Composites announces licensing agreement to expedite its manufacturing process
Oak Ridge-based LeMond Composites has entered into a global, exclusive 20-year licensing agreement with Australia’s Deakin University to commercialize the latter’s patent pending manufacturing process to increase production of high performance, low-cost carbon fiber.
According to yesterday’s announcement from LeMond, the licensed process will enable the start-up to commercialize carbon fiber production faster than anyone else currently in the marketplace. This means LeMond will deliver more of its low-cost carbon fiber at a much faster rate to industries that benefit from using lighter, stronger materials like those addressing global energy and transportation challenges.
“Deakin University’s process oxidizes carbon fiber faster, with lower capital and energy costs and greater output of carbon fiber over a shorter period,” says 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.”
LeMond announced last October that it wasinvesting $125 million to expand the old Theragenics facility in Oak Ridge and hire 242 people for high-wage jobs. You can read our teknovation.biz article about that announcement here, and you can read the yesterday’s full announcement here.
