Fiberforge was a privately held company, started in 1998. The company uses a proprietary process for making thermoplastic advanced composites[1][2] to make things more lightweight. Particular interest has been placed on decreasing weight of everyday means of transportation like cars and aircraft[3] for better fuel efficiency and hence Environmental sustainability.[4] Amory Lovins was its chairman emeritus.[5]
Fiberforge ceased operations in June 2013 due to financial problems and attempted to liquidate its assets for the benefit of creditors [6] It was later acquired by Dieffenbacher.[7]
History
edit- 1994: Rocky Mountain Institute founded the Hypercar[8] Center to help prove its technical feasibility and commercial reality.[9]
- 1998: Rocky Mountain Institute took this process a step further by launching a for-profit venture, Hypercar Inc.
- 2004: Hypercar Inc. changed its name[10] to Fiberforge to better reflect the company's new goal of lowering the cost of high-volume advanced-composite structures/[11]
- 2010: Office is established in Zug Switzerland.
- 2012: At the height of production, output with approximately 70 employees.
- 2013: Ceases operations due to financial problems.[6] Acquired by Dieffenbacher.[7]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Jespersen, S. T.; Wakeman, M. D.; Michaud, V.; Cramer, D.; Månson, J. -A. E. (June 2008). "Film stacking impregnation model for a novel net shape thermoplastic composite preforming process". Composites Science and Technology. 68 (7): 1822–1830. doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2008.01.019.
- ^ High Performance composites article, "[1]", 1/1-2006
- ^ Netcomposites article, "[2]", 7/1-2010
- ^ Hybrid Cars now, "[3]", 7/1-2010
- ^ "The authors". Natural Capitalism. Rocky Mountain Institute. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
- ^ a b "Glenwood Springs-based Fiberforge hits 'end of the runway' | PostIndependent.com". www.postindependent.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-18.
- ^ a b "Dieffenbacher Acquires Fiberforge Tape Layup Technology". dieffenbacher.de. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
- ^ Science Channel's Eco-tech series, "[4]", 9/4-2007
- ^ Discovery channel video, "[5] Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine", 7/1-2010
- ^ RMI article, "[6]", 7/1-2010
- ^ The Aspen Times, "[7]", 7/1-2010
External links
edit- "Fiberforge product from Dieffenbacher". Dieffenbacher. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
- "Fiberforge: Lightweighting Your World With Thermoplastic Advanced Composite Parts". Fiberforge.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-23.
- "Hypercar". Hypercar.com. Rocky Mountain Institute. Archived from the original on 2008-04-05.
- "RMI | move - Hypercar". Rocky Mountain Institute. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05.
After a century of engineering, cars are embarrassingly inefficient.