PNNL

From development to production, it typically takes years for a new lightweight material to reach market. In an effort to accelerate the development and deployment of lightweight materials and boost U.S. competitiveness in manufacturing, DOE has establishing a new consortium through which industry can tap into the unique capabilities and talents found at select national laboratories.

PNNL is leading the Lightweight Materials National Lab Consortium, or LightMAT—a network of nine national labs with technical capabilities that are highly relevant to lightweight materials development and use. LightMAT provides a single point of contact which will match industry led research teams with specific expertise and equipment found only at the national labs.

Through the consortium, any U.S. company, large or small, can seek assistance to locate and use national laboratory resources to accelerate lightweight materials research & development. The consortium:

Assists companies to understand the unique lightweight materials capabilities housed within the consortium Connects industry with laboratory technology experts to establish approaches for using these capabilities to address specific clean energy manufacturing challenges Aids industry to more quickly and easily develop agreements to access national laboratory capabilities Provides a data repository for industry to access and leverage data and tools developed by the LightMAT consortium for expanded application and implementation

In addition to access to capabilities, industrial partners can use collaboration tools and data aggregation tools under development as part of LightMAT. This includes simplified work and technology transfer agreements, and a LightMAT non-disclosure agreement that allows access to all participating laboratories through a single document. This means additional cost and time savings for industrial participants.

For more information, visit the LightMAT site, or check out the PNNL News Release.