Challenges of Composites and Multi-Material Joining

With composites and multi-materials on the rise in mainstream automotive, engineers and designers are offered with a multitude of joining solutions and need to identify which ones offer the most flexibility while accomplishing regulations’ requirements. Multi-material (metal/composite) joining is particularly challenging, so automakers like Groupe PSA are using simulation to design and validate experimental joining processes. 

Henkel offers a comprehensive selection of matrix resins, multi- material adhesives, binders and ancillary materials, intelligently designed both for the needs of the automotive industry and for complementarity with one another. As part of being a total solution provider, Henkel, additionally offers a complete composites engineering toolbox, enabling and facilitating lightweighting for customers. 

Primary Topics: 
• Influence of the regulation context and consequences on the design 
• Overcoming multi-material joining complications 
• Lightweight and multi-material solutions 
• Analysis and validation of composites and specially designed adhesives for automotive applications 

Presenters: Mathieu Kielwasser and Christos Derdas 
Mr. Kielwasser received his PHD in laser applications at the Fraunhofer Institut für Lasertechnik in Aachen/Germany. Since 2011 he is the Project Manager for Multi-Material Joining where he outlines strategies and roadmaps. Before that, he was the initiator of industrial laser applications at PSA, which are now common across many car lines across the company. 

Mr. Derdas is a Mechanical and Aeronautics Engineer and has completed his PhD at the University of Patras/Greece. He has 15 years of experience in Composites. He works as Composites Specialist at Henkel since 2014, developing and deploying composites engineering capability globally. Before Henkel, he was employed in the aerospace industry.