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Braskem and WEAV3D® Win the Altair Enlighten 2024 Future of Lightweighting Award

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Braskem and WEAV3D® Win the Altair Enlighten 2024 Future of Lightweighting Award
News

News

Braskem and WEAV3D® Win the Altair Enlighten 2024 Future of Lightweighting Award

2024-08-12 20:01 Last Updated At:20:11

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 12, 2024--

Braskem (B3: BRKM3, BRKM5, and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK) the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas, as well as a global market leader and pioneer producer of biopolymers on an industrial scale, and WEAV3D Inc., an advanced manufacturing and materials startup, today announced Braskem's and WEAV3D Inc.'s thermoplastic composite lattice technology, in partnership with the Clemson Composites Center at Clemson University, were named first place winners of the 2024 Altair Enlighten Award’s Future of Lightweighting category. The award recognized the partnerships’ cost-effective lightweight solution to enhance the performance of PP for structural automotive applications.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240812821972/en/

Joel Carr, Technical Service and Development Engineering Team Leader, Braskem America, stated, “Braskem is honored to be recognized by Altair as the winner of the 2024 Future of Lightweighting category which recognizes new material technologies that have significant potential to transform and advance vehicle lightweighting. The partnership between WEAV3D, Clemson Composites Center, and Braskem combined to create a truly innovative material that provides for more sustainable lightweight solution to help reduce vehicle carbon emissions all while enhancing manufacturing process value through material cost savings. This is a win-win for our clients and the planet.”

The combination of WEAV3D composite lattice reinforcement with Braskem PP enables lighter and less expensive thermoplastic solutions than conventional organosheet, unlocking new opportunities for the cost-effective replacement of sheet metal structures with thermoplastics throughout the vehicle.

“We are incredibly grateful to Altair and CAR for selecting us for such a prestigious award,” says Christopher Oberste, President and Chief Engineer of WEAV3D Inc. “This award validates the technical development and commercialization progress we have achieved over the past several years and recognizes the importance of WEAV3D’s cost-effective lightweighting technology as part of the future of sustainable mobility. Using the right material in the right place keeps cost and waste low, while still delivering substantial weight savings and performance benefits to our automotive customers.”

The Altair Enlighten Award honors the greatest sustainability and lightweighting advancements that successfully reduce carbon footprint, mitigate water and energy consumption, and leverage material reuse and recycling efforts. The Enlighten Award showcases the latest and greatest technology innovations dedicated to sustainability and garners interest from industry, engineering, policymakers, educators, students, and the public alike. The Enlighten Award is presented annually in conjunction with the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and was presented this year on August 6, 2024, at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars.

“We collaborated with WEAV3D and Braskem to develop an industry-first high-rate structural automotive prototype that showcases WEAV3D’s tunable woven composite technology and Braskem's cost-effective PP resin, leveraging our extensive experience in stamp-forming thermoplastic composites from the US Department of Energy's Ultra-Lightweight Door program," says Sai Aditya Pradeep, former Manufacturing Applications Engineer and Project Lead for Clemson.

Benefits of using WEAV3D's Rebar for Plastics ® and Braskem Polypropylene vs. conventional composite organosheet:

For more information on WEAV3D's Rebar for Plastics ® with Braskem’s PP, visit https://weav3d.com/cost-effective-automotive-body-structures.

Braskem will exhibit at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) TPO Global Automotive Conference in Troy, Michigan from September 29 - October 2, 2024.

ABOUT WEAV3D Inc.

WEAV3D Inc. is an innovator in composite materials, manufacturing processes and processing equipment. Headquartered in Norcross, GA, they originated as a technology startup within the Materials Science and Engineering department at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The patent-pending WEAV3D composite forming process enables the production of optimized lattice structures that can be combined with injection molding or thermoforming processes to create lightweight structural composite parts at a fraction of the cost and cycle time associated with traditional composite manufacturing. These innovations enable companies in industries such as automotive, aircraft, wind turbines, and cargo transportation to produce parts that are lighter, stronger and less expensive. For more information, visit www.weav3d.com.

ABOUT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY

One of the most productive public research universities in the nation, Clemson University enrolls 27,341 students across the State of South Carolina and has an endowment of over $1 billion. The University operates Extension offices in every county of the state and has five Innovation Campuses and six Research and Education Center locations. Classified as an R1 — Very High Research University by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education — Clemson is dedicated to teaching, research and service. Our main campus, located in Upstate South Carolina, sits on 1,400 acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, along the shores of Lake Hartwell. Through the research, outreach and entrepreneurial projects led by our faculty and students, Clemson University is driving economic development and improving quality of life in South Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit https://clemsoncomposites.com.

ABOUT BRASKEM

With a global vision of the future oriented toward people and sustainability, Braskem is committed to contributing to the value chain for strengthening the Circular Economy. The petrochemical company’s almost 9,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improving people’s lives through sustainable chemicals and plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare, and hygiene, among others. With 40 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico, and Germany, and exports its products to clients in more than 70 countries.

Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with five production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh, and operations in Lexington, MA focused on leveraging groundbreaking developments in biotechnology and advanced materials. For more information, visit www.braskem.com/usa.

Braskem on English social media:

www.facebook.com/BraskemGlobal
www.linkedin.com/company/braskem

WEAV3D CEO Lewis Motion with Sai Aditya Pradeep accepting the award. Photo Credit: WEAV3D

WEAV3D CEO Lewis Motion with Sai Aditya Pradeep accepting the award. Photo Credit: WEAV3D

Beltline Stiffener Photo Credit: WEAV3D

Beltline Stiffener Photo Credit: WEAV3D

KARTALKAYA, Turkey (AP) — As flames tore through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in northwestern Turkey, friends Esra Karakisa and Halime Cetin stood helpless, paralyzed by the horror unfolding before them: people leaning out of smoke-filled rooms pleading for help and others making the harrowing decision to leap out.

The fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in Kartalya, in the Koroglu mountains in Bolu province, on Tuesday left at least 76 people dead and 51 injured. It came near the start of a two-week winter break for schools when hotels in the region are filled to capacity.

“There was no one around. They were calling for firefighters. They were breaking the windows. Some could no longer stand the smoke and flames, and they jumped,” Cetin, an employee at a hotel adjacent to the Grand Kartal, told The Associated Press.

Her colleague, Karakisa said: “It was awful. We were terrified. People were screaming. The cries of children especially affected us. We wanted to help but there was nothing we could do. I couldn’t look it was so terrifying.”

Authorities have assigned six prosecutors to investigate the cause of the fire, which appeared to have started at the restaurant section on the fourth floor of of the wooden-clad hotel and spread quickly through to the upper floors.

At least nine people have been detained for questioning, including the hotel owner.

Flags at government buildings and Turkish diplomatic missions abroad were lowered to half-staff as the nation shocked by the disaster observed a day of mourning for the victims.

Only 45 of the 76 bodies have been identified so far, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said late Tuesday.

One of the injured was in serious condition, while 29 others were treated and released, the Health Ministry said.

The hotel had 238 registered guests, according to Yerlikaya. The fire was reported at 3:27 a.m. and the fire department began to respond at 4:15 a.m., he told reporters.

Officials and witnesses said the rescue efforts were hampered by the fact that part of the 161-room hotel is on the side of a cliff.

According to Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the hotel underwent inspections in 2021 and 2024, and “no negative situation regarding fire competence” was reported by the fire department.

Karakisa said she eventually brought clothes and water for the survivors while others rushed to bring mattresses for people to jump onto or propped up ladders against the wall to help them escape.

Among those who placed mattresses was Baris Salgur, a cleaner in a nearby hotel.

“They were saying, ‘Please help, we’re burning!' They were saying, ‘Call the fire department,' we were trying to calm them down, but there was nothing we could do, we couldn’t get in either,” Salgur, 19, said. " It was very high, we couldn’t extend a rope or anything of course. We were trying to do the best we could.”

“People jumped from a great height, I couldn’t look. There were two women at the top floor. The flames had literally entered the room. They couldn’t stand it and jumped,” he said.

Salgur described seeing a man on the top floors holding a baby and shouting for a mattress he could throw his baby on.

"We told him to be a little calmer. He waited, then the fire department came and took them (out), but unfortunately the baby had died from smoke inhalation,” he said.

Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, and Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Tightened bed sheets hang from a window of a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Tightened bed sheets hang from a window of a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A Turkish flag flag flies at half staff outside a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A Turkish flag flag flies at half staff outside a hotel where a fire broke out at the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters and emergency teams work on the aftermath of a fire that broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters and emergency teams work on the aftermath of a fire that broke out at a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, northwest Turkey, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a hotel at a ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Enes Ozkan/IHA via AP)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a hotel at a ski resort of Kartalkaya, located in Bolu province, in northwest Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Enes Ozkan/IHA via AP)

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