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Non-Tech : ZOLT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: aatkinson who wrote (651)	2/24/1998 9:49:00 AM
From: Jake Heib	Respond to of 970

No I haven't, and thanks for the heads up, I will notify a couple of my clients, whom I know can meet the cost/performance goals. Zoltek produces three disticnt products, oxidized acrylic, continuous fiber, and batch heat treated pan. Oxidized acrylic is a thermoset plastic being very soft. The continuous fiber is standard grade, meaning about 400 KSI in strength and 33 MSI in modulus. Through processing differences, high performance pan fibers can be produced meeting the requirements you stated (70 MSI modulus at 1% strain to failure equals 700 KSI in strength) but I doubt that Zoltek even suspects what it would take to get there. The heat treated fibers (which add about $2 per pound for the heat treatment, will have higher modulus, c.a. 60 MSI but the strength will fall from the 400 KSI to about 300 KSI due to the effects of the heat treatment and would result in a 0.5% strain to failure. I don't see any possibility that Zoltek can meet the technical requirements, nor the cost/price goals. Regards Bill

To: aatkinson who wrote (651)	2/24/1998 5:51:00 PM
From: Jake Heib	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 970

I got a copy of the solicitation today, and thanks again for the heads up. The DOE (Oak Ridge in managed by Lockheed Martin) is looking for four seperate white papers dealing with 1.) Advanced Precursor Technology to look at other things than the current pan and pitch; 2.) Advanced High Modulus Fibers which can include items other than carbon based fibers; 3.) Improved Precursor Processing to address the oxidation step in pan processing or other issues; and 4.) Novel Production Methods with an emphasis on non-thermal energy deposition methods. It will be interesting to see the next step when they issue the formal proposals based upon the white papers. Of course, if you are not a significant contributor by then, it will be tough to win. Regards Bill