CAMX and ACMA awards finalists announced

CAMX – The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo is proud to announce the finalists for the fourth annual CAMX Award, sponsored by Ashland Performance Materials (Columbus, OH, US). The CAMX Award recognizes two cutting-edge innovations that will significantly impact composites and advanced materials. The award is divided into two categories that embody the spirit of CAMX – Combined Strength and Unsurpassed Innovation.

As two distinct honors, the Combined Strength Award acknowledges a product that
incorporates advanced materials that solves a problem through teamwork and collaboration, and the Unsurpassed Innovation Award celebrates a product with a design that incorporates low-cost materials for high-volume applications that can change the outlook of a particular market. The winning entries will be announced and presented during the General Session at CAMX, on Tuesday, September 12 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, US. 

This year's finalists will be on display at CAMX in the Exhibit Hall. The entrants will also be available to speak with attendees about their entries from 2:30– 3:30 p.m. on September 12.

The finalists for the Combined Strength Award are:
• Thermoplastic Composite Overmolding Technology Reduces Cycle Time to Minutes: Victrex
• Halls River Bridge – FRP Composites for Next Generation Infrastructure: Florida DOT
• GFRP Wicket Gates: Long Lasting Structures to Ensure Navigable Waterways: Composite Advantage, LLC
• 9 Meter Wind Turbine Blade Advanced Technology Demonstrator: IACMI –
The Composites Institute
• Development and Launch of Integrated Slide-in Oven Console Assembly w/
Stainless Steel Appearance via Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD): Mar-Bal,
Inc.
 Finalists for the Unsurpassed Innovation Award are: 
• Secure Hybrid Composite Maritime Shipping Container: University of Maine
- Advanced Structures and Composites Center
• Next Generation CoCure Hybrid Metal/Composite Technology for
Transportation: Structural Composites
• Edge En V. Fly Rods Made with Ekoa Plant Based Prepregs: Lingrove
• First Industrial Fiber Patch Placement System for Manufacturing Complex Composites: Cevotec GmbH
• Carbon Fibre / Kevlar Hinge System: Talon Technology

In addition to the CAMX awards, the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) announced its finalists for the Awards for Composites Excellence (ACE), sponsored by Composites One (Arlington Heights, IL, US). ACE is a prestigious composites industry competition that recognizes outstanding achievement and innovation in technology, manufacturing and product development.

On Tuesday, September 12 at 2 p.m., in the ACE Pavilion (located in the upper left-hand corner of the Exhibit Hall), ACMA and Composites One will announce the winning ACE entries. All of the finalists will have their product entries on display in the ACE Pavilion at CAMX.

"ACE is an incredible opportunity to see some of the best innovation our industry has to
offer," said Tom Dobbins, ACMA president. "Every year we look forward to seeing how
businesses envision new uses of composites and advanced materials to make better more innovative products."

In the design category, the Most Creative Application Award is given to the composites
product that showcases composites use in a unique, new application. This year, the finalists are:
• Rapid Manufacture of Ultra-High Quality Composite Mirrors: The Aerospace
Corporation
• Composites Lift the World's First Electric Flying Surfboard: Strongwell
• One-Piece Molded High Performance Carbon Fiber Triathlon Bicycle Frame:
Cervelo Cycles/Vroomen White Design
• Golf Swing Training (LAG) Device: Tsunami Bar, LLC
• Composite Self-Driving Shuttle by Additive Manufacturing: Local Motors

The design category also features the Innovation in Green Composites Design Award,
which recognizes a composites product that best exemplifies innovation that
lowers/minimizes the environmental footprint or offers an attractive life cycle assessment (LCA) of the product. This will be the first time this has been awarded since CAMX's debut in 2014. This year's finalists are:
• Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel made with Recycled Continuous
Carbon Fiber: Vartega Inc.
• Biodegradable 3-D Printed Molds for FRP Tank Part Manufacturing: Design
Tanks LLC
• Large Scale 3D Printing Using 100% Bio-Composite Materials: Oak Ridge
National Laboratory

In the manufacturing category, the Equipment and Tooling Innovation Award is given to
the equipment, tooling, production aid, or software that is designed to improve manufacturing production, environmental sustainability or product quality and performance in composites manufacturing. This year, the finalists are:
• Composite Material Roll and Kit Life Tracking Software: JETCAM
International s.a.r.l
• Comprehensive Composite Manufacturing Platform: Autodesk
• Reusable Shipping and Storage Containers for High Value Assets: PRC
Composites

The manufacturing category also features the Materials and Process Innovation Award,
which recognizes a material or process that best contributes to efficient manufacturing and product sustainability. This year, the finalists are:
• Out-of-Autoclave Process: Low Cost, Low Cycle Time Motorcycle Helmets:
Vistex Composites, LLC
• CFRTP Processing Technology Using Commingling, Fiber Laying, and Light
Molding: Gifu University (Gifu, Japan)
• Significant Weight Reduction of Aircraft Seat: Oxeon AB
• 3D Foam Printing Technology: University of Central Florida

In the market growth category, the Infinite Possibility Award is given to the composites
product that demonstrates the potential to significantly increase the use of composites in
existing markets or generate the greatest impact to open new and emerging markets for
composites. This year's finalists are:
• Low Cost Carbon Fiber (LCCF): Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Curved Pultrusion Process Applied to Highly Engineered Hollow Profiles:
Shape Corp
• Ford/Magna Carbon Fiber Subframe: Ashland LLC

To see all the latest innovation on display, make sure to sign up by August 18 for a
discounted rate for a CAMX Exhibit Hall pass, as well as access to CAMX conference
programs, featured sessions, technical papers. For more information about all of these awards, visit http://www.thecamx.org/awards-competitions/.