Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has received a Jeff Lawrence Innovation Fund 2023 Manufacturing Grant in the amount of $50,000 to introduce unique innovations to the recreational fishing industry that may also be applied to commercial fishing through a collaboration with Douglas Outdoor LLC (DO). Daniel Walczyk, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering and director of the RPI’s Manufacturing Innovation Center (MIC), will serve as the principal investigator, and RPI students will benefit from research and employment opportunities.

With the grant, Walczyk and his team will produce fishing rods with thermoplastic composites, a material not currently used for fishing rods, for testing and evaluation by DO. The thermoplastic composites will make the rods more durable and impact resistant, and improve overall performance. In addition, they will develop a new manufacturing process, called hot roll-wrapping, that reduces manufacturing cycle time and cost. Currently, DO’s rods are manufactured in Taiwan, but the thermoplastic composite rods will be produced domestically.

The 12-month project will start with thermoplastic prepreg material sourcing. Prepreg is thin, unidirectional carbon fiber web pre-impregnated with thermoset resin and then partially cured. Next, it will entail the design and prototyping of a small-scale hot roll wrapping machine and demonstration of the process for the chosen thermoplastic composite prepreg material. The work will be done at RPI’s MIC and Advanced Composites Lab. After the design and fabrication work is completed, the manufacturing scale-up, prototyping of thermoplastic composite fishing rod blanks, and performance testing will be done.

Walczyk’s team at RPI will collaborate with DO’s founder and president, David Barclay; head rod designer, Fred Contaoi; chief engineer, Ken Krapf; and director of business development, Peter Winkert.