(ORNL: Oak Ridge, TN) -- Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were recently honored with the prestigious ACE Award for Composites Excellence by the American Composites Manufacturers Association. The team won the “innovation in green composites design” prize for creating a fully recyclable, lightweight wind-turbine blade tip that incorporates low-cost carbon fiber and conductive coating for enhanced protection against lightning strikes.

The award recognizes a composite product that demonstrates the greatest innovation for reducing its environmental footprint or extending its life cycle. ACE winners were announced at the 10th annual Composites and Advanced Materials Expo, or CAMX, in San Diego.

“This one award encompassed three different technologies from ORNL: We made the blade with ORNL’s low-cost carbon fiber, treated it with a conductive coating we developed, and designed it to be 100% recyclable,” says ORNL researcher Vipin Kumar, who led the project.

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