On September 2 and 3, the 17th European Symposium on Composite Materials (EJSCM) took place at the Institute of Polymers and Composites at Hamburg University of Technology. The department last hosted the biennial conference, which was attended by speakers from Europe and Japan, in 2004.
Around 30 participants from the scientific field and representatives from industry gave specialist lectures, presented posters and discussed the latest developments in the field of composite materials. These materials are mixtures of at least two different base materials. For example, fiber composites, which consist of reinforcing fibers (e.g. carbon, glass, polymer or natural fibers) and an enclosing plastic matrix.
Bodo Fiedler, Prof. Dr.-Ing Andreas Timm-Giel, President of TU Hamburg, and Shinsuke Toda, Consul General of the Japanese Embassy in Hamburg, each gave a welcome speech. In their speeches, they emphasized the long-standing friendship between the international educational institutions.
Keynote speaker Masahito Ueda from Japan's Nihon University in Tokyo then gave a presentation on “3D printing of high-performance composite materials through optimized design and improved processes”. He explained how custom-made 3D printers can improve quality and stability.
Marino Quaresimin from the Italian University of Padova reported on how a damage-based strategy for predicting fatigue damage to laminates made of composite materials can look. Fatigue damage, such as cracks in the laminate, occurs as a result of natural environmental and ageing processes. The method presented is intended to allow conclusions to be drawn about expected material damage on the basis of models that have previously been tested in experiments.
A presentation by Dr. Leif Asp, who conducts research at Chalmer University of Technology in Sweden, dealt with carbon-based battery composites. Asp spoke about the advances in structural batteries. One example of this is car batteries, which are both energy carriers and built into the structure of the vehicle. According to Asp, these can be more resistant to internal damage, such as voltage damage.
TU Hamburg is looking forward to further strengthening global cooperation in the field of composite materials in the future and would like to thank all participants of the EJSCM.
