Fall is officially here — it's time to think about carbon fiber

As we enter the final stretch of 2015, there are just a few big composites-related events on the calendar. One is CAMX, Oct. 26-29 in Dallas, TX. Another is our annual Carbon Fiber conference, which returns in 2015 to Knoxville, TN, US, Dec. 8-10 at the Knoxville Convention Center. As usual, Carbon Fiber will feature a slate of speakers and presenters offering updates on the latest in carbon fiber application, ranging from design to tooling to manufacturing. This year’s co-chairs are Tia Benson-Tolle, director of advanced materials, product development, Boeing Commercial Airplanes (Seattle, WA, US), and Andreas Wüllner, managing director of SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers GmbH, a joint venture of SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Germany) and BMW Group (Munich, Germany).

If you've not attended Carbon Fiber, I strongly recommend it. Conference director Scott Stephenson always puts together a strong lineup of compelling presentations, and it's likely that you will find the attendees just as interesting. 

In addition, Carbon Fiber’s pre-conference seminar this year features Chris Red, principal of Composites Forecasts and Consulting LLC (Gilbert, AZ, US), presenting his highly anticipated report, titled, “2015 Global Markets for Carbon Fiber Composites: Adaptations to High Growth and Market Maturity.” This will include his assessment of carbon fiber end-use demand, as well as a summary of carbon fiber global and regional manufacturing capacity. The morning of the pre-conference seminar includes a tour of the ORNL Manufacturing Development Facility (Oak Ridge), which will offer a demonstration of a Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine, developed by ORNL and Cincinnati Inc. (Harrison, OH, US).

Other presenters and topics at Carbon Fiber this year will include:

• Ryan Paul, GrafTech International Holdings (Parma, OH, US) and Amit Naskar, Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN), update on biomass as precursor for carbon fiber manufacture
• Adrian Williams, Future Materials Group (FMG, Cambridge, UK), understanding the economics of the aerospace and automotive markets
• John Russell, US Air Force Research Lab (Wright Patterson AFB, OH, US), next-generation military aircraft
• Anthony Vicari, Lux Research (Boston, MA, US), roadmap and hurdles to carbon fiber growth
• Avner Ben-Bassat, Plataine (Waltham, MA, US), RFID in carbon fiber composites fabrication
• Mike Braley, A&P Technology (Cincinnati, OH, US), effect of carbon fiber age in finished product quality
• Kelly Visconti, US Department of Energy, composites opportunities in clean energy applications

Other speakers are being added to the agenda. For the most current information on the conference and its presentations, and to register, visit www.carbonfiberevent.com.

Carbon Fiber's sponsors are Harper International, Toho Tenax America Inc./Diversified Structural Composites, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Izumi International, Inc./Kamitsu, Knoxville Oak Ridge Innovation Valley, and C.A. Litzler Co. If you're firm is interested in joining this list, sponsorship opportunities are still available. Contact marketing director Kim Hoodin (khoodin@gardnerweb.com) for information.