The IACMI Technology Roadmapping Workshop was met with tremendous industry engagement as representatives gathered to participate in facilitated discussions focused on accelerating the development and adoption of cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. Held last week at IAMCI headquarters in Knoxville, TN, the two-day event laid out the barriers and priorities in advanced composites manufacturing in three of IACMI’s application areas: vehicles, compressed gas storage, and wind.
The discussions were facilitated by Nexight Group in collaboration with IACMI technical leads to solicit industry input. Session topics included additive technologies; design, prototyping and validation; reinforcements, resins, additives and intermediates; modeling and simulation; recycling, and nondestructive evaluation. Primary barriers were presented at the conclusion of each breakout session to identity the technical gaps industry must overcome in order to achieve IACMI’s five-year technical goals. Common challenges presented were standardization of established materials and performance standards, increased education and workforce development, and the implementation of a test case project for performance validation and analysis.
Attendees expressed their satisfaction with IACMI’s knowledge of state-of-the-art composite manufacturing technologies and ability to create communication pathways between industry, government, and universities. Over the next five years, industry is calling for greater standardization, from design rules to software compatibility, and the improved variability of advanced composites use beyond the limited niche applications of today. The implementation of measurable progress on technical targets and development of mechanisms for increased sharing of technologies will help propel advanced composites manufacturing toward its technical goals.
Get the Technology Roadmapping overview and register for the next Roadmapping in Detroit, MI.