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[April 2002]
Zoltek Introduces Superior Low Cost Carbon Fibre
Zoltek Companies Inc (St Louis, MO, USA) has just introduced a new line of carbon fibres - trademarked PANEXR 35 - made from an internally produced, textile-based precursor and now available for commercial shipments. The company says that compared with aerospace grade carbon fibres, the new range, which has been under development for several years, delivers higher tensile modulus and other performance advantages at sustainable lower cost."PANEXR 35 is the real deal," said Zsolt Rumy, Zoltek's Chairman and CEO. "It is a genuinely low-cost carbon fiber made from an abundant textile-based precursor material that can not only match but outperform both aerospace-grade and other commercial-grade carbon fibers in tensile modulus. At the same time, the PANEXR 35 fibers are fully competitive with other carbon fibers when it comes to tensile strength. It has been extensively tested by a number of our customers and it is getting rave reviews."
"It has been a critical part of our strategy for commercializing carbon fibers to drive down the cost and gain greater control over both the quality and the availability of the precursor material that goes into the production of carbon fibers. It has taken some time to do it, but we have now proven beyond a doubt that we can make quality carbon fibres from a textile acrylic fiber-based precursor. This gives Zoltek the opportunity to draw from the existing world surplus of acrylic fiber production capacity as it becomes necessary. We now have a firm foundation for the commercialization of carbon fibers and carbon fiber composites as a common, everyday building material that will drive performance improvements across a large range of products."
In December 1995, Zoltek acquired Magyar Viscosa Rt of Hungary, one of Europe's producers of acrylic fibres. Zoltek has now successfully converted a substantial portion of the plant's acrylic fibre output into the manufacture of carbon fibre precursor. Furthermore, Zoltek has built additional carbon fibre production lines at the Hungarian facility, based on the company's innovative and proprietary processes.
"We are absolutely committed to the European marketplace, and we are extremely excited about potential breakthrough developments for carbon fiber composites within Europe," said Rumy. "European companies are second to none in engineering innovation and excellence."
ENDS