SAMPE Journal - July/August 2011 - 5

Technical Director’s Corner
SAMPE 2011, Long Beach – Newest Technology Developments Shine
Although this Journal issue has a brief overview of the SAMPE 2011 Long Beach Symposium and Exhibition later on, it seems appropriate to discuss at least a few more of the highlights that were technically more evident in the symposium and on the exhibition floor. As noted later in the overview discussion, there were a very large number of exhibitors (350+) as well as a significant number of technical papers presented as well. Wednesday morning’s keynote address by Andreas Wüllner, Managing Director of SGL’s new Automotive Carbon Fibers Gmbh division, was a significant venture directed totally toward the automotive market segment. The bold move by SGL with its “heavy” or “large” tow carbon fiber (tow size over 48K by typical definition), into the BMW automotive passenger car industry was indeed unique. The move will provide a dedicated supply chain of carbon fiber of roughly 3000 tons in terms of fiber from that facility (Moses Lake, WA) and additional textile product from Germany. The goal is to introduce a significant amount of carbon fiber composites into the automotive market with an emphasis on the passenger compartment and electric car market areas. As with previous SAMPE conferences, developments within the “out-of-autoclave/OOA” and “vacuum bag only/VBO” market areas was a key technology area showing further growth and strong interest in several areas of materials and process developments. In fact, the Outstanding Technical Paper focused upon that area. Lessa Grunenfelder and Steven Nutt, University of Southern California, had the winning paper “Out Time Effects on VBO Prepreg and Laminate Properties” at this show. While a significant effort has been made in the OOA and VBO areas to develop both the material systems and the manufacturing processes, the question of “out time” effects on laminate performance has become a very important issue in this area of application. In fact, several sessions on OOA/VBO focused on materials (new and old), processing methods, out time effects and applications into both the aerospace and commercial market segments. Raptor Resins presented new information regarding a look into the use of bismaleimide (BMI) resin systems for OOA applications that also raised some interest. Because the areas of OOA and VBO have been a hot topic at SAMPE events over the last few years, some of which have been ITAR-restricted, the panel developed by Dave Inston (Airbus Composites, Bristol, UK) attracted considerable interest since the panel represented a large number of non-US presenters who were not restricted by covering the subject. Dave did an excellent job of attempting to get about ten presentations and expecting only about six overall. Bottom line – he actually got all ten and also had an overflow seating attendance in the largest “double-room” in the building. He noted that the Airbus A350 will eventually utilize a number of OOA-type processes and new materials in its structural components. He noted that 90 percent of most composites are currently an autoclave process but that things will significantly change in the future. The ten presentations, available only at the SAMPE 2011 show event, were a “must see” and attracted considerable interest from attendees. The other strong area represented developments within the “tooling” technology market segment. As can be seen by the technical articles in this Journal issue, tooling materials, their development, and their application across numerous markets is important to our industry growth and innovation. In addition to several sessions and a panel on tooling topics, the show floor also had significant displays of new products. Ceramic tooling (EireComposites Teo), elastomeric tooling (Rubbercraft Corporation), fused deposition modeling tools (Stratasys Inc.) and lower cost tooling with tailored properties (Nevada Composites) were among those drawing significant interest. OOA and VBO tooling materials specifically designed to enhance that industry were also presented (ATK and Advanced Composites Group). Overall – SAMPE 2011 provided significant technology developments, innovations and new products. You definitely needed to be there to experience the upward trend within the industry. Dr. Scott W. Beckwith SAMPE Technical Director SAMPE Journal Technical Editor swbeckwith@aol.com

SAMPE Journal, Volume 47, No. 4, July/August 2011

SAMPE Journal - July/August 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - July/August 2011