Webinar: CW Tech Days: Bonding and Welding by Gardner Business Media, Inc. Webinars

CW Tech Days: Bonding and Welding

About

Bonding and welding are essential processes in the assembly and manufacturing of composite materials, providing reliable methods for joining components.

Bonding of composites involves the use of adhesives or bonding agents to create robust connections between composite parts or between composites and other materials. These adhesives help distribute stress evenly, resulting in lightweight, durable structures. Conversely, welding methods — including continuous ultrasonic, conduction, induction and infrared welding — are specifically used for thermoplastic composites. These techniques involve applying heat to melt and fuse the materials, forming strong joints.

But which approach is best suited for a particular application? And what methods should you use?

CW Tech Days: Bonding and Welding will take place April 10, 2025. This online event will feature presentations from industry experts providing valuable insights into the unique challenges and innovative solutions in the joining and assembly of composite structures.

Presentations will include insights into advanced bonding techniques and welding processes tailored for composite materials to ensure durability and structural integrity.

You can learn more about the event schedule and sessions here: https://www.compositesworld.com/kc/cw-tech-days-bonding-welding

When

Thursday, April 10, 2025 · 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (US & Canada) (GMT -4:00)

Agenda

Robot-based continuous ultrasonic welding for automated production of aerospace components
Enabling continuous ultrasonic welding of themoplastic composites
Gap fill bonding
Non-thermal plasma enhanced bonding of composites
Influence of welding processes, faying surface orientation, and resin film on the mechanical properties for a single lap joint.
Certification approach for welded thermoplastic composite assemblies

Presenters

Alan J. Austin

R&D Composite Engineer, Spirit Aerosystems

Alan J. Austin is a R&D Composite Engineer at Spirit Aerosystems working in thermoplastic carbon fiber-reinforced polymers, where his focus is understanding parameters that can impact weld strength. Prior to his employment at Spirit Aerosystems, Austin spent a year working and developing nanocomposites to increase mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. His academic background includes an M.S. in Material Science & Engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Chris Croshaw

Principal Research Engineer, Collins Aerospace

Chris Croshaw had been involved with thermoplastic welding since his PhD in polymer science at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is currently a principal research engineer in the thermoplastic R&T groups at Collins Aerospace where he spends most of his time developing welding technologies for next generation products.

Lars Larsen

Head of Assembly & Joining Technologies, DLR/ZLP

Dr.-Ing. Lars Larsen received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in computer science and multimedia from the University of Augsburg. In September 2010 he joined the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Augsburg where he is working on production technology for lightweight structures for aerospace applications. His areas of expertise are automation technology and artificial intelligence. After working as a scientific employee and project manager, Dr. Larsen successfully completed the Talent Management Program of the DLR and is currently group leader for assembly and joining technologies. The main topics of the group are welding and bonding technologies and systems for automated assembly. In 2019 he finished his PhD in Computer Science in which he dealt with AI-based automatic path planning of industrial robots. During his PhD, Dr. Larsen held lectures with the topic computational intelligence at the University of Augsburg.

Sarah Montrowl

Business Development Manager, Plasmatreat North America

Sarah Montrowl is a Business Development Manager at Plasmatreat North America, specializing in aerospace applications. With nearly a decade of experience in atmospheric plasma surface treatment solutions, she has helped clients integrate innovative plasma technologies into their manufacturing processes. Her background in technical sales includes previous roles at Domino Amjet and SMC, where she focused on advanced industrial solutions and automation.

Ryan Robinson

Senior Applications Engineer, Plasmatreat

Ryan Robinson, PhD, is a Senior Applications Engineer at Plasmatreat, specializing in plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and non-thermal plasma surface treatments for improved cleaning and bonding. With a strong background in plasma sciences and engineering, he has led research and commercialization efforts at Plasmatreat, Lightning Water LLC, and LDS Technology Consultants. His expertise spans R&D, engineering design, and technical consulting across both academia and industry, including roles at NASA-JPL and the Army Research Laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University (2018) and joined Plasmatreat in 2021.

Taylor Santa

Technical Support Specialist, IPS Adhesives

Taylor Santa is a skilled practitioner of chemistry and has worked with adhesives specifically for many years. At IPS Adhesives, Taylor is a Technical Support Specialist, handling inquiries and troubleshooting related to adhesives and substrates daily. In this role, she collaborates with R&D chemists, sales and customer service, and production to ensure that the adhesives selected perfectly match application needs and stand the test of time in the field. She also has experience working in the application laboratory and as a quality control technician. Taylor holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Forensic Science from the Western Carolina University.

Jim Stratton

President, Agile Ultrasonics

Jim Stratton is a serial entrepreneur with an extensive background raising capital, planning and executing business development strategies across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. He founded Agile Ultrasonics in 2017 with the goal of enabling greater adoption of thermoplastic composites with breakthrough ultrasonic joining and shaping technologies.

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