BLACKSBURG, Feb. 8, 1999 --A $23 million gift-in-kind being announced today by DuPont is the largest single donation ever received by Virginia Tech and will aid the university's researchers in developing recyclable automotive parts, low-cost aircraft parts, and composite bridge beams.
The gift, consisting of several thermoplastic composites technology patents and related materials and equipment, will be used by the university for commercial licensing as well as research applications. Virginia Tech competed with several other research universities for the gift, which is one of the most valuable of its kind ever made by an industry to a single institution.
Michael Martin, executive vice-president of Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties (VTIP) Inc., said the $23 million evaluation is based on DuPont's projection of using the patented technology in a variety of markets, including automotive and electrical cabinetry.
"Virginia Tech's material scientists and intellectual property developers believe it has even broader applications," said Martin, who is chairman of the Composites Manufacturing Association within the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. "The technology being donated by DuPont also has the potential for use in bridge decks and other infrastructure applications, and in aircraft construction."
Production assets from the patents will be used to help establish the Random Wetlay and Continuous Rollforming Composites Laboratory, under the direction of Donald G. Baird, professor and eminent scholar of chemical engineering, and Alfred C. Loos, professor of engineering science and mechanics and materials science and engineering. The new lab will be affiliated with the Center for Composite Materials and Structures, co-directed by Baird and Loos, and with the Center for High Performance Adhesives and Composites, directed by James E. McGrath, university distinguished professor of chemistry.
Baird explained that the random wetlay process patented by DuPont is used to make thermoplastic composite porous mats, consisting of a random mixture of polymer and reinforcing fibers. In DuPont's process, which is based on paper-making technology, glass or other reinforcing fibers and thermoplastic fibers are chopped up and dispersed in a random mixture in water. This creates a slurry that is cast onto a moving screen and then dried, leaving a mat of thermoplastic and reinforcing fibers that can be formed into composite sheets and molded into items such as car parts.
VTIP will market and license these patented technologies to businesses and industries that wish to use them to improve their products and processes, Martin said.
Meanwhile, Virginia Tech researchers will use the patented processes and materials as a basis for developing advanced random wetlay technology. Along with the patents, Baird said, DuPont is donating equipment that will enable Virginia Tech researchers to produce composite sheets. One potential use for this capability is the construction of automotive parts made from lightweight, recyclable composite materials, a project that Baird and other Virginia Tech researchers plan to tackle in the future.
DuPont also is giving Virginia Tech a patent for the continuous rollforming of composites. "This is an exciting process," Baird said. Normally, a fixed mass of the composite sheets are pressed into molds to form parts. Rollforming is a method of continuously pressing composite sheets made from the wetlay process into desired shapes.
Baird said engineering researchers can use rollforming to devise methods for developing large composite infrastructure parts such as beams for bridges. Loos is interested in studying the potential of rollforming to produce low-cost structural parts for aircraft.
The gift-in-kind, along with any new applications, materials, and technologies that result, will be administered by VTIP, a private, non-profit corporation established by Virginia Tech in 1985 to identify and market technologies and other intellectual properties belonging to the university. Additional support necessary to make the best marketing and research uses of the DuPont donation will be provided by the university, the College of Engineering, Virginia Tech Research and Graduate Studies, and the Virginia Tech Foundation.
"We are excited about this major gift," commented F. William Stephenson, dean of the College of Engineering. "Virginia Tech values its longstanding relationship with DuPont and this donation of technology will enable our faculty to continue their cutting-edge research in a vital area of materials science and engineering."
The week of Feb. 8, Mike Martin and Don Baird are at a trade show in Anaheim. The number at Mike's hotel is 714-750-1811 (Rm. # 1208) and his cell phone is 714-469-1724. The number at Don's hotel is 714-750-4321. Mike's office (number above) will also be forwarding messages and he will respond. Don't want to make a long distance call? e-mail Mike's secretary at lucasd@vt.edu or me at strulove@vt.edu and we will make sure he gets your message so he can call you.
Contact at Dupont is Scott Nelson, 302-774-2416
Note to Media:
Dupont is making their announcement in Wilmington, Del. this a.m. and has
provided the following fact sheet:
1. Virginia Polytechnic and State University
Intellectual Property Donation: DuPont Composite Sheet Technology
Description: The donation is primarily 13 patents as well as accompanying technical information and product samples for the manufacture of composite sheet materials. A composite is a solid material consisting of fibers in a polymer matrix, combined to increase strength. This technology includes a "random wet-lay" method developed by DuPont for producing composites from randomly oriented reinforcing fibers. This manufacturing method will allow higher speed production than other technology, and, in comparison to metals, will yield a lighter weight material with more design flexibility. The technology will also enable the forming and application of the composite sheet for various industrial uses in transportation, electrical and other markets.
Value: $23 Million*
2. University of Iowa
Intellectual Property Donation: Biotransformation Process Technology
Description: The donation is comprised of 9 patents along with technical information for the manufacture of three specific materials using microbes to effect the chemical transformations. These are glyoxylic acid, which is useful as a chemical intermediate; glyphosate, which is useful as a herbicide; and pyruvic acid, which is useful as a chemical intermediate and as a nutritional supplement. The process technology enables the practical manufacture of these compounds, comparable to corresponding traditional chemical techniques, but produces less waste and causes less environmental impact.
Value: $35 Million*
3. The Pennsylvania State University
Intellectual Property Donation: Mite Control Compounds
Description: The donation is a patent and related technical information covering a family of compounds useful for control of mites, which are destructive pests in many important agronomic crops. The most active member of the group of included compounds has been shown to control all economically important species of mites in their targeted crops in all key geographic areas.
Value: $6 Million*
* All values were determined by independent third parties outside DuPont