Trend spotting with SLC at JEC

The Sirris Leuven Composites Application Lab (SLC) team was present with an own booth at the JEC Composites Show in Paris. The JEC Composites Show is the largest exhibition about composite materials in Europe. It is aimed at people from all sectors that use composite materials, such as aviation, transportation, construction, industrial, energy, sports and leisure.

As last year, more than 27 000 participants from 96 countries visited the fair. Thus, the JEC Composites Show was the opportunity for SLC to communicate its mission and to create new contacts with the industry. This year, the SLC team was attending the fair with an own booth, shared with researchers of KU Leuven. During three very interesting days, a lot of contacts with the industry were established, providing an excellent basis for future collaborative projects.

The JEC Composites Show also allowed the SLC team to spot the latest developments and witness the state of the art in composites technology. According to Bart Vangrimde, coordinator of SLC, the four following trends were eye-catching this year:

  • Composites are green. A lot of efforts are undertaken in order to make composites more environment friendly. As an example, natural fibers and bio-based resins become more and more recognized by the industry.
  • Black is beautiful. In comparison with previous years, carbon fiber materials dominated the exhibition. 
  • Automation wins over craftsmanship. Robots and advanced design software replace the labor intensive processes and trial-and-error developments. 
  • Composite valleys pop up. Regions, such as Aquitaine, Hamburg or Saxony promote themselves as composite centers of gravity with many research and technology activities going on.

SLC at the JEC show 2010

If you are interested in composite applications and missed the JEC composites Show in Paris, please do not hesitate to visit the SLC website or contact the SLC team at info@slc-lab.be.

In addition, Sirris organizes the 2010 Materials Day on April 29, where SLC and composite materials play a major role. Post your own topics and challenges to experts from SLC and get your questions answered during the interactive workshop session. For more information and a detailed program visit www.materialsday.be.