Award

The proposed innovation constitutes development of novel honeycomb-hollow carbon fibers via two component spinning. During our prior AFRL funded project, we have demonstrated feasibility of producing honeycomb hollow carbon fibers with a density of 1.15 gram per cc which has enabled 23 percent lighter composites with epoxy polymer. In addition, we estimate that further optimization will lead to upto 34 percent weight reduction. With such lighter composites, it is feasible to reduce the weight of a Boeing 787 by approximately 20000 lbs to the base airframe weight of 140000 lbs. Such weight reduction will result in at least 10 percent further gain in fuel efficiency. Similar applications exist within the Air Force for the proposed materials. These are described in detail in the MOU as well as the technical volume. á