ATLANTA — A consortium of companies working on the Durastor project are testing of fuel tanks for hydrogen-powered cars, using carbon-fiber reinforced acetal copolymer (POM) materials from Celanese Corp., Greg Clark, the company's global composites marketing manager, said at JEC Americas in Atlanta.
Hydrogen storage vessels need to withstand high pressures.
Global automakers have said they anticipate moving toward a long-term transportation goal of relying extensively on hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles in the future.
Clark outlined research done so far in a presentation made May 14 at the composites trade show in Atlanta. He said the researchers have tested fuel tank liners made by injection molding, rotational molding and filament winding. Next up: overwrapping the POM cylinders with fiber wraps and tapes.
Preliminary results show the composite vessel passes all required tests for high-pressure hydrogen fuel tanks, Clark said.