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Nabil Grace

Center for Innovative Materials Research

Advancing Materials and Applications through Innovation

Finding new applications for advanced materials is the central mission at the Nabil Grace Center for Innovative Materials Research at Lawrence Technological University.

The facility is best known for developing new applications for carbon fiber in bridge construction under the leadership of College of Engineering Dean Nabil Grace. Many other advanced materials have also been developed and/or tested for applications in the military as well as in business and industry.

» Collaborations

Partnering for Your Success

Innovation is the key word at the Center for Innovative Materials Research (CIMR) at Lawrence Technological University. CIMR researchers are working on innovative material and structural solutions for defense, homeland security, transportation infrastructure, construction, and automotive applications, to:

  • save lives
  • reduce injuries
  • cut costs


Make it stronger, lighter, and cheaper. Boost fuel efficiency, and build it to last for 30 years – or more.
 Lawrence Tech can help you deliver product excellence.

Use expert CIMR researchers and facilities to explore:

  • New military vehicles that require armor weighing less than 100 pounds per square foot
  • Carbon fiber wind turbine blades that can withstand harsh changes in weather or climate
  • Advanced materials for commercial vehicles that reduce weight and improve fuel economy
  • Components that incorporate high-performance materials

CIMR researchers are collaborating with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center to significantly advance materiel design, testing, evaluation, and durability of military vehicle armor.

Result: Deployment of new high-strength, lower-weight vehicle armor to protect troops and save lives. 

CIMR researchers are working with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Michigan Department of Transportation to develop highway bridges that can last 100 years – twice the normal life span – by using innovative materials during construction.

Result: Lower life-cycle repair and maintenance costs, fewer detours and traffic disruptions, and substantially safer travel for motorists.

 

Bridges to the Future

Sobering statistics … more than 72,000 highway bridges across the United States are structurally deficient and more than 81,000 are functionally obsolete.

Lawrence Tech is playing a lead role in the research, development, and deployment of innovative, high-strength bridge technology designed to replace those structures … and avoid such tragedies as the 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that claimed 13 lives.

Work at CIMR is advancing the industry’s current best practices for bridges and infrastructure to include the design of new non-corrosive carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) for building and reinforcing concrete bridges. Lawrence Tech also is conducting durability tests using this technology in I-beam construction.

In 2001, Lawrence Tech built the nation’s first highway bridge using CFRP rather than steel. The pioneering Bridge Street Bridge project led to CIMR being awarded a $900,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation 21st Century Jobs Fund in 2007 to deploy the CFRP technology on three new bridges in 2009 in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation.

» Contact Us

The Center for Innovative Materials Research at Lawrence Tech can help you develop new and innovative products that make a positive difference in people’s lives and solve important and challenging problems.

  • What product development problems are you working to solve?
  • What new materials are you developing?
  • What material characteristics are you seeking to achieve?
  • How long do you want them to last?

CIMR’s facilities and experienced university research team can get you the answers you need!

» Inside CIMR’s Testing Facilities

Fire Chamber

Each year catastrophic fires in the United States claim thousands of lives and cause billions of dollars in property damage. Lawrence Tech is meeting the challenge by examining how structural materials respond to very high temperatures.

CIMR houses a state-of-the-art Fire Chamber that enables researchers to conduct large-scale testing of structural components at temperatures of up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit and simulate conditions of the 9/11 tragedy at the World Trade Center. Large enough to fit a full-sized military HMMWV, the Fire Chamber also lets researchers conduct tests on military vehicles, especially those subjected to blast and fire on the battlefield.

Structural Testing

Lawrence Tech’s Center for Innovative Materials Research has three separate structural testing areas to accommodate multiple projects, handling structures up to 100 feet long with both static and repeated loads up to one million pounds of force.

CIMR can help you achieve:

  • Improved material characterization
  • Advanced prototype evaluation
  • Long-lasting, reliable products
Simulated Global Climate Testing

Lawrence Tech is enhancing its reputation for cutting-edge research by building an Environmental Test Chamber for testing vehicle components for military and other uses. This latest addition to the CIMR will include an actuator capable of delivering impact blows with up to 150,000 pounds of force on components being tested. The environmental/loading chamber will replicate the impact of both repeated and static loads in simulated climatic conditions ranging from Iraq to Antarctica.

The Environmental Test Chamber will:

  • Significantly advance U.S. Army materiel design, testing, evaluation, and durability, and result in the deployment of new high-strength, lower-weight vehicle armor to protect troops and save lives.
  • Meet all standards for full- and partial-scale vehicle and composite armor testing under harsh conditions, including salt spray, salt water, solar/UV light, relative humidity, and sand in addition to freezing, thawing, and dry heat.
  • No other facility in the United States can provide full-scale environmental condition testing and evaluation to meet Military 310 Global Climatic Data for Developing Military Product for an entire vehicle. 
Environmental Test Chamber
Lawrence Tech is enhancing its reputation for cutting-edge research by building an Environmental Test Chamber for testing vehicle components for military and other uses. This latest addition to the CIMR will include an actuator capable of delivering impact blows with up to 150,000 pounds of force on components being tested. The environmental/loading chamber will replicate the impact of both repeated and static loads in simulated climatic conditions ranging from Iraq to Antarctica.
Fire Testing Facility
CIMR houses a state-of-the-art Fire Chamber that enables researchers to conduct large-scale testing of structural components at temperatures of up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit and simulate conditions of the 9/11 tragedy at the World Trade Center. Large enough to fit a full-sized military HMMWV, the Fire Chamber also lets researchers conduct tests on military vehicles, especially those subjected to blast and fire on the battlefield.
Structural Testing Center
Lawrence Tech’s Center for Innovative Materials Research has three separate structural testing areas to accommodate multiple projects, handling structures up to 100 feet long with both static and repeated loads up to one million pounds of force.

» News

» Document Viewer

Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

  • What you will need to have and do
  • Download the mobile Zoom app (either App Store or Google Play)
  • Have your phone plugged in
  • Set up video stand phone holder

From Computer

Log in and start your Zoom session with participants

From Phone

  • Start the Zoom session on your phone app (suggest setting your phone to “Do not disturb” since your phone screen will be seen in Zoom)
  • Type in the Meeting ID and Join
  • Do not use phone audio option to avoid feedback
  • Select “share content” and “screen” to share your cell phone’s screen in your Zoom session
  • Select “start broadcast” from Zoom app. The home screen of your cell phone is now being shared with your participants.

To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

  • Open (swipe to switch apps) and select the camera app on your phone
  • Start in photo mode and aim the camera at whatever materials you would like to share
  • This is where you will have to position what you want to share to get the best view – but you will see ‘how you are doing’ in the main Zoom session.