First SAMPE Asia draws diverse crowd
By Staff | March 2008
The Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (Covina, Calif.) hosted its inaugural SAMPE Asia Exhibition and Conference Feb. 11-13 in Bangkok, Thailand. The event attracted more than 180 delegates from 17 countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Israel, Singapore, Australia, Austria, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and the United States).
The two-day conference opened with remarks by SAMPE president Bob Griffiths as well as Suwabun Chirachanchai of Chulalongkorn University and Bhutan Parixatranond from the Thai Composites Assn., key supporters of the SAMPE Asia event. Keynote speakers outlined the challenges that face the Asian composites industry while four technical sessions featured papers. According to SAMPE, Dirk Heider (University of Delaware) provided a thought-provoking presentation about the “Challenges and Applications of the Resin Infusion Process,” Marinus Schouten (EADS Innovation Works, Munich, Germany) offered a comprehensive presentation on “20 Years of Textile Processing of Carbon Fibres — Lessons Learned,” and William Avery (The Boeing Co., Seattle, Wash.) gave a dynamic presentation on the changes facing commercial aviation. Finally, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Materials and Manufacturing Directorate’s Tia Benson Tolle outlined AFRL’s take on the future of advanced materials.
