COMPOSITES 2010 Las Vegas Preview
ACMA’s annual COMPOSITES+POLYCON event acquires a shorter name and heads inland to the U.S. Desert West.
The American Composites Manufacturers Assn.’s (ACMA, Arlington, Va.) annual conference and trade show is heading west in 2010, destined for the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev., Feb. 9-11. Previously the COMPOSITES+POLYCON show, it’s now simply COMPOSITES 2010, but it features many of the same events that have attracted composites professionals over the years.
Beyond the show’s exhibit hall, COMPOSITES 2010 features a full slate of conference, education, networking and keynote events that will cover a variety of composite materials, processes and end-markets. On the social/networking side, the show kicks off with the Opening Welcome Reception, Feb. 9 from 5 to 6:30 p.m., sponsored by Reichhold LLC2 (Research Triangle Park, N.C.). This is followed on Feb. 10, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., by the Awards Luncheon, where winners of ACMA’s Pinnacle and ACE Awards are presented and ACMA recognizes its Lifetime Achievement, Composites Hall of Fame, President’s Award, and Outstanding Volunteer honorees.
ACMA plans two keynote events this year. The first, on Feb. 9, features former Massachusetts governor, 2008 Republican presidential primary candidate and potential frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential ticket, Mitt Romney. ACMA reports that Governor Romney will address “many of the challenges facing our nation and business” and “provide a clear vision for the future.” ACMA has extended an open invitation (no fee or ticket required) to attendees and exhibitors for the Romney keynote. He will be speaking at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The second event, Feb. 10 from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m., features a panel that will address emerging markets for composites applications. Panelists will represent wind energy, defense, automotive, appliance, aerospace, infrastructure and construction end-markets.
If you’re headed to Las Vegas for composites education, there are several opportunities at the show. COMPOSITES 2010 offers technical paper presentations and tutorials. Sessions begin Feb. 9 at 9 a.m. and run all three days of the event. First-day topics include composite rebar in concrete, nondestructive testing, lean manufacturing, peroxides in composites, corrosion, open molding, gel coat quality, nano-platelets, pultrusion cure, troubleshooting product failures and many others.
Day-two sessions cover four-layer sandwich panels, natural fiber reinforcement, thermoplastics, resin chemistry primer, worker safety, disposable mandrels, structural panels, cast polymers, infusion feed systems, lifecycle assessment, light resin transfer molding (LRTM) troubleshooting and more. The end of the second day’s sessions features an Emerging Markets reception (5 to 6 p.m.), hosted by Composites One (Arlington Hts., Ill.).
Among the day-three topics are color science for thermosets, mold design and repair, offshore wind, pushtrusion, onsite wind blade repair, light RTM tooling, waterjet cutting, bio-composites, conductive coating for sheet molding compound.
The exhibit floor, open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 10, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 11, features more than 110 exhibitors featuring resins, fibers, tooling, software, inspection systems, core material and other products for composites manufacturing.
COMPOSITES 2010 Exhibitor List
The exhibitor list published in our CT December 2009 issue (p. 13) was based on information available Nov. 11, 2009. For up-to-date information on the exhibiting companies that will be on hand in Las Vegas,, click on this link to access the ACMA Web site: www.acmashow.org/exhibitor_listing.cfm (Note: Booth locations are subject to change by ACMA. Please confirm locations with exhibitors.)
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