Celanese extends alliance with Aachen Center for integrative lightweight production

Celanese Corporation (Dallas, TX), has signed a two-year contract extension with the Aachen Center for Integrative Lightweight Production (AZL) in Aachen, Germany, to jointly develop thermoplastic composite solutions for automotive, construction, and oil and gas applications.

"The effort in developing potential new business opportunities for applications that use composite solutions from the Celanese broad portfolio of engineered materials is significantly reduced by approaching the task with a strong network collaborator such as AZL," said Michael Ruby, global composites business manager - Celanese. "We look forward to continuing our work with AZL to enable innovative composite solutions."

RWTH Aachen University officially launched the AZL in 2013 with 33 founding members to focus on developing lightweight components. The research covers production from carbon- and glass-fibers, textile preforming, high-volume plastics processing, automation, machining and testing to applications ranging from oil, water, gas, infrastructure, buildings and automotive.

As a founding AZL member, Celanese has focused on projects to reduce manufacturing costs and increase productivity for thermoplastic composite parts. One Celanese and AZL study has identified applications, components, distribution channels, production volumes, economic potential, and requirements for materials and process chains, across five major business sectors. Celanese offers a broad portfolio of thermoplastic composite solutions, including unidirectional (UD) tapes, rods and profiles, and direct-long fiber thermoplastics (D-LFT).