The subject of the environment is receiving increasing attention in our society. In 1992, Halada proposed the concept of ecomaterials, materials that facilitate the reduction of environmental impact due to human activities. Within this framework, composite materials exhibit specific characteristics.

Indeed, a composite material consists of at least two different components, the matrix and a reinforcing component. Replacing traditional polymer composites with substitutes that have a lower environmental impact is one way of obtaining ecocomposites. In this workshop, natural fibre-reinforced polymer composites and agrocomposites will be looked at in order to respond to the new technological challenges faced by companies.

Nanocomposite materials have became invaluable components in various technological applications. This rapidly expanding field of science and technology is generating many new and exciting materials with novel properties. Nanocomposites provide a combination of properties from the parent constituents in a single material. It is also possible to create new properties which are unknown in the parent constituent materials. The properties of nanocomposite materials depend not only on the properties of their individual parents but also on their morphology, size, and interfacial characteristics. Intensive research is ongoing on controlling the formation of nanoscale structures within a stable matrix via innovative synthetic approaches (wet-chemistry, gas phase deposition, etc.) This workshop will cover novel synthesis approaches and technological applications of nanocomposites.

Quality control in the manufacture of aircraft parts is a mandatory step in the production process. This step ensures the integrity and compliance of parts used to equip aircraft.

During the workshop participants will be exposed to three specific types of controls:

• Upstream controls within industrial R&D processes. This step has two objectives: to allow the sizing of detectable defects on components during the development stage and to allow the dimensioning of defects to be detected, both in order to get an optimized and reliable control strategy. 
• Non-destructive testing for the validation of parts, performed during the manufacturing process. Mostly automated, they are reliability checks based on reference parts representative of the test piece.
• Destructive testing for the release of batches of parts, carried out on representative parts of a production batch at the end of the process.

Before starting to design or to produce new materials, it is important to evaluate the adverse environmental impacts of the product throughout its entire life cycle in order to reduce this impact (ISO/TR 14062).

During this session, the participants will learn how to set up an eco-design study and will benefit from the experience in eco-design and recycling conception from key players in the industry.

Composite materials are very specific, compared to other ‘classic’ materials. They are often used to replace other (metallic) materials in existing parts, in order to decrease their weight, and they can also be used to create new objects. In both situations, the designer must take into account their specific properties, and the fact that those properties are neither homogeneous, nor isotropic. The designer must also take into account the available processing techniques, very specific to composites, and the possible ways to assemble composite parts with the other components. This workshop will present industrial case studies that demonstrate how to cope with these issues.

Composite materials are used in many areas, including mass transport. However, they must be as fire efficient as the materials they replace, especially in terms of smoke toxicity and smoke opacity, which makes it important to take into account the stringent fire regulations in connection with European standardization. In this workshop, we will take the opportunity to focus on fire safety to aid you in following a key technological route towards more fire-safe composites materials, by gathering the complete chain of actors, from resin formulators down to the end user and of course fire regulation expertise.