Date

Subject

Speaker/Affiliation

Sep. 2004

Talk: Development Of The First Vehicle In The World Capable Of Carrying Ten Times Its Own Weight

The need for weight reduction has recently motivated the use of better steel, and aluminum to produce lighter chassis in trailers, and the resulting chassis are also inevitably more flexible. On the other hand CSSI has assisted Composittrailer® in designing an integrated fiber reinforced chassis and superstructure, which leapfrogs the steel and aluminum trailer technology under development by its competitors.

The combination of the more flexible chassis, and the integrated superstructure has made the chassis-superstructure ensemble design more complex than it used to be when chassis were extremely rigid, so that there was no major interaction in their structural behavior with the bodies, and beam theory (or at most plate theory) was more than sufficient to design safely. A structural analysis using modern computational tools is needed. Very high global weight reduction has been achieved, with evident advantages for the payload, and at the same time increased safety margins.

Notwithstanding the fact that major advances have been made…it will be shown that trailer technology has remained essentially unchanged for nearly 6000 years, and that we are still attempting the equivalent of putting a PLC on a steam machine. When properly used however, composites open major new avenues in vehicle technology leading to reduced shipping charges for the customers, increased profit for the fleet operators, and billions in savings for the taxpayers as a result of reduced road damage.

Dr. Clem Hiel, Composite Support & Solutions, Inc. (CSSI)

Dr. Clem Hiel, is on the faculty at the University of Brussels (VUB) as a full Professor of Aerospace Technology and New Materials (courses he teaches during his frequent visits to Europe) He worked for about ten years at NASA Ames Research Center, after finishing NATO and NASA post doc's. In 1996 he became Technical Director of Goldsworthy & Ass., as the driving force behind the legendary composites pioneer and innovator Brandt Goldsworthy. He then started his own consulting company called “Composite Support & Solutions Inc. Clem's unique talent of combining an astute practical technical insight with a brilliant theoretical engineering and modeling capacity stems in part from his climbing up the ranks systematically from technical high school to technical college to Masters, PhD and post-doc levels, with an ever hands-on approach.

Clem is on the editorial boards of the European Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Technology. He was recently awarded the medal of the “Institut Royal Des Elites du Travail de Belgique,” by King Albert II of Belgium for his innovations as an engineering practitioner and educator.

Clem has many years of experience with structural composites, integration of the design and manufacturing processes, and he has given technical talks to NorCal SAMPE at regular technical meetings and at our January Composite Workshops. His most recent talk to us focused on  innovative "snap joint" and "sandwich panelling" applications.

Oct. 2004

Talk: Recent Advances in 2Phase Technologies Reformable Tooling Systems

Last year at a NorCal tour at 2Phase Technologies, Inc. we were introduced to the concept of quick, inexpensive, reformable tooling that held the potential for application to many different materials and manufacturing processes from composites layup, to vacuum thermoforming to closed molding.  This update on the technology will describe with examples, the applications that have been proven and the growing list of parts that have been fabricated using these applications. Continued enhancement of the technology has resulted in increased scalability and reduced processing time, delivering the promised reduction in both the time to produce tooling as well as the cost of the tool. 

Dr. John Crowley is a founder and President and CEO of 2Phase Technologies. He has held a number of technical management positions in semiconductor capital equipment companies, including startup companies, where he was responsible for developing advanced processes and for insuring that equipment performance achieved product specifications. As an independent consultant for the past eleven years, he has provided his expertise in developing new innovative technologies to his clients in the flat panel display and semiconductor capital equipment areas. His clients have included both large and small companies ranging from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency where he coordinated DARPA funded university programs with U.S. industry needs to Applied Materials where he is consulting on issues of engineering work force training and equipment donations to universities. In addition, he served as project manager for thin film photovoltaic development at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and worked on thin film devices and radiation effects on integrated circuits at the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory. He received his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University and his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Nov. 2004

Talk: Adhesively Bonded Structural Fasteners – Talk, Demo, and Hands On Workshop

Jim will speak about the products, applications, and the technical merits of using Adhesive/ Mechanical Fastening systems. He will provide an overview of the range of adhesively bonded structural fastener products produced by Click Bond, and he will discuss the details of surface preparation and adhesive selection, the Click Bond installation placement process, and the certification process. In the hands-on workshop you will do a bonding application and take the sample home with you!

Jim Stemler, currently VP, Sales at Click Bond, graduated from the University of Southern California in 1982. His first Aerospace job was with Cherry Textron (now Textron Aerospace Fasteners). This was a technical support role, with much time devoted to training operators in the field how to properly install blind rivets in aerospace structures.

In 1985 Jim took an outside sales position with Shur-Lok Corporation, which primarily produced potted fasteners for use in cored substrate materials and other composite structure. This provided an introduction to the combination of composite structure, adhesives and mechanical fasteners all in the same application. 1987 was the year Click Bond Inc. was incorporated. Click Bond (Charlie Hutter, Founder) had invented the “self fixturing” adhesive bonded fastener. He invited Jim to Carson City, Nevada (headquarters) and in late 1987, Jim became Click Bond’s first salesman.

Dec. 2004

Talk: Using Materials to Create Structural Color in Art

Red Wolf has created a painting technique utilizing thin film application in the pursuit of creating structural color. In nature structural color is seen in numerous inorganic materials such as opal and even in biological structures such as hummingbird feathers.

This phenomena of structural color and the play of light and interference effects has fascinated humans for thousands of years. Studies using the electron microscope have begin to unravel the mechanism of this phenomena. Creating structural color has become one of the most sought after developments in the pigment industry and it continues to prove difficult and expensive to create commercially. Red Wolf's artwork represents a unique exploration into this development of control and creation of color through the manipulation of light.

In addition to describing his experiences in creating his artwork, Red Wolf will describe some of the materials issues that have arisen has he applies some of these advanced materials in his artwork. These include: the stability of outdoor coatings, crazing of vinyl coatings, bubbles formed during cure of his epoxy coatings, use of vacuum bagging/pressure to control bubbles during cure, embedding of diffraction grating materials, use of honeycomb aluminum panels to back his art, etc.

Red Wolf, Artist www.RedWolfFineArt.com

Red Wolf is an artist who uses technological materials to create color through the interaction of layered materials and light at a microscopic scale.

Red Wolf's work began as a modern adaptation of the glazing techniques of the Old Flemish Masters. In addition to the full artist's materials palate, he utilizes modern industrial materials: plastics, polymers, sealers, and various optical enhancers. He is developing ways to manipulate the refractivity of light entering and exciting his paintings. Having the ability to manipulate the refractivity of the painting matrix, the bending and control of light becomes equally important to the manipulation of pigments in constructing the fine art image.

Jan. 2005

29^th Composites Workshop and Sponsor Exhibition

Composites R&D at the Air Force Materials Lab

Dr. Jennifer Chase Fielding, Wright Patterson AFB, AFML

Composites for Aircraft Jet Engines

Dr, Charles Watson, Pratt and Whitney, UTC.

Progressive Failure Analysis with GENOA FEA

Cody Godines, Alpha Star Corp.

Carbon Nanotubes in Advanced Matrices for Composites

Susan Robitaille, YLA Inc.

Special exhibition of the Solar Motions' Solar Powered Racing Car

Articulated Resin Transfer and Other Composite Studies at UC Berkeley

Prof. Hari Dharan, Mechanical Engineering Dept., UC Berkeley

Update on Shuttle Thermal Protection Systems

Dan Leiser, NASA Ames Research Center

Lessons Learned - My Experiences with Shops, Test Labs and Subcontractors

Bob Milligan, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.

Surface Preparation and Adhesive Bonding of Composite Structures

Douglas Carlton, Click Bond Inc.

Chairs: Scott Bonneville and Dr. Frank Crossman

Feb. 2005

Tour: The Hiller Aviation Museum

A collection dedicated to man's concept of flight. Hiller Aviation Museum highlights the many historic advancements native to Northern California, and show how technologies resident here today will shape the future of air transportation. Aviation Museum contributes historical foundations for the aviation development process unfolding lessons of the past century and linkages to the next hundred years of transportation.

Mar. 2005

Talk: The Gravity Probe B Mission

Gravity Probe B is a profound mission which is experimentally testing Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.  Over 45 years of development, at Stanford University, Lockheed Martin, and NASA-MSFC, is behind the launch and on-orbit operations of this conceptually simple yet extremely elegant experiment.  This talk will discuss the Gravity Probe B experiment concept, technology development, and space vehicle design.  Learn a little about relativity, the roundest object ever made by man, and the current status of this exciting experiment which is currently orbiting the earth and measuring science gyroscope precession rates to accuracy of less than 1 milliarcsecond/year.

Dr. Richard Vassar, Program Manager, Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center

Dr. Richard Vassar has over 25 years experience in the aerospace industry.   He worked on Gravity Probe B for 15 years in various roles; from performing the first end-to-end mission error analysis to serving as the Lockheed Martin GP-B Payload program manager during final verification and delivery of the flight payload hardware to Stanford University.  Dr. Vassar has BS in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech and PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA.  Dr. Vassar is currently the program manager for the James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA.

Apr. 2005

Talk: Materials in Flat Panel Displays

Flat panel displays are big business and a huge infrastructure has grown up to supply the specialty materials needed to make them. This presentation will cover the types, properties, processing and usage of major materials used in flat panel displays. The scope will extend to materials for substrates, thin films, organic and inorganic coatings and films, sealants and a few more. Displays will include liquid crystal, plasma and organic light emitting diode types.

David E. Mentley, Editor, Display Technology Investor

David E. Mentley is an expert in the markets and technologies for electronic displays, with over 20 years of experience in tracking markets for display products as well as the core technologies, from laboratory to production line. He is now editor of the Display Technology Investor, a newsletter covering the electronic display business for investors. Mr. Mentley was previously Senior Vice President at iSuppli/Stanford Resources, a provider of market intelligence and strategic planning services for the electronic display industry.

His education includes a BS degree in Ceramic Science from Alfred University, Alfred, NY, an MS degree in Materials Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and a MBA degree specializing in marketing, also from UC Berkeley

May 2005

Talk: Composite Surface Design

The ability to use a material depends to a large degree on the ability to sculpt the material into a usable part and to subsequently connect that part to others. Composite are well known to add value to the process by allowing a user to convert a raw material in one state (fiber & liquid resin) into a sculpted finished part in another state. Unlike metallics, this process can also be utilized to generate the desired surface finish in one easy step. However, the ease by which a bad surface can be generated is equally easy. This talk will focus on how to go about designing the desired surface, how to go about fabricating it, and some of the pitfalls along the way. Specific discussion points will include the best surfaces for bonding operations, and “how to” studies into carbamate formations.

Dr. Tracy Colwell, Materials and Processes, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.

Tracy came originally from Menlo Park before heading off to UC Davis for a BS in Aeronautical & Mechanical Engineering. Realizing that CFD was not desireable for the next 30 years, he moved on to higher education at Stanford in Aeronautics & Astronautics in the Structures and Composites Lab. Obtaining his Ph.D. in '96 was a mixed blessing since it required a transition into the real world to earn a living. Lockheed Martin assumed the roll of family sponsor. Despite hating composite design at UCD, and taking few materials specific classes, Lockheed decided to place him in the roll of senior Materials & Processes engineer based sole on the strength of his hands-on composites experience at Stanford. Little did they know that the typical technician at Lockheed had more experience. Despite that, Tracy has since published ~30 in-house papers with various members of the LM staff, most dealing with the test, evaluation, design, and failure investigation of composite materials.