Upcoming CW Tech Days navigates composites in AAM

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CompositesWorld and Gardner Business Media (Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) are closing out the end of the year with “CW Tech Days: Composites in advanced air mobility,” taking place Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023 from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. This one-day interactive online webinar will be featuring materials suppliers and advanced air mobility (AAM) OEM experts as they delve into the materials, tooling and manufacturing hurdles of meeting the demands of this promising end market. This event is sponsored by KraussMaffei, Composites One, Toray Composite Materials America and Trelleborg.

The AAM space promises to introduce a new mode of transport for urban and intercity travelers — particularly those who wish to bypass the traffic congestion endemic to the world’s largest cities — and high-performance composite materials will make that possible, though the volumes required to make this happen are not trivial.

This CW Tech Days event will explore the materials and processes being employed today, and those being considered for the future, to manufacture electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aerostructures. The ultimate goal of this Tech Days is to help the composites industry understand and prepare for the material and process demands of AAM market, the opportunities to watch for and impacts to be aware of.

The event will begin with an introduction by CW editor-in-chief Scott Francis, followed by six 30-minute presentations. The agenda is as follows:

11:15-11:45 a.m.: Title TBD — Presented by Jim Orbon, head of programs, Overair
11:45-12:15 p.m.: “Developing composite solutions to meet the eVTOL market needs of today and tomorrow” — Presented by Sam Hill, AAM marketing and business development, Solvay; and Edoardo Depase, aerospace and defense head of marketing
1:00-1:30 p.m.: “Challenges for startups in the AAM space” — Presented by Kevin Cain, chief technical officer, Aria
1:30-2:00 p.m.: “Composite materials for advanced air mobility and uncrewed aerial vehicles” — Presented by Dr. Robert Yancey, business development director, Hexcel
2:15-2:45 p.m.: “Supply chain challengs and considerations for AAM” — Presented by Anastasia (Stacy) Biel, segment manager – UAM & DoD, Toray
2:45-3:15 p.m.: “Achieving scalability and quality with minimum weight” — Presented by Joe Brennan, composites manufacturing and assembly lead, Joby Aviation