Even our smallest scientific scale Carbon Fiber research and development line emulates real world production across all equipment, yet delivers the precision and flexibility needed to aid research efforts and future scale up. Requiring only one person to operate, this inventive system is designed to handle very few filaments – from 10 to 20 filaments up to 6k, and operates at about .15 meters per minute or .005kg per hour, as shown here (right) in this R&D system installed at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Harper designs with the end in mind to help facilitate the transition to the next scale step while enabling research goals. Some examples include:

• Individual zone temperatures that mimic larger scale ovens and furnace designs
• Tensioning designed similar to production systems – adjust draw rate in between Oxidation Oven passes and in between Furnaces, even with very small tow sizes
• Ability to change air velocity in the oven for more flexibility in precursor chemistries to handle different exothermic reactions

See more here!