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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 Senior Vice President of Research & Economic Development 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.
Innovation is the key word at the Nabil Grace Center for Innovative Materials Research 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:
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:
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.
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.
The Nabil Grace 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.
CIMR’s facilities and experienced university research team can get you the answers you need!
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.
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:
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:
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