Adhesives for Transportation Lightweighting

Lightweighting is a challenge for the entire transportation sector, expanding beyond the traditional automotive market to include trucks, trailers, buses, passenger rail cars, and even heavy earth-moving equipment and cranes. Modern design and modeling techniques enable engineers to maximize the efficiency of these structures using the strategic selection of materials and combinations. However, those materials must be joined in ways that meet both the performance requirements of the structure and allow for its efficient manufacture.  

Adhesives are of increasing interest in the joining of dissimilar materials for lightweight structures. This webinar will examine the different types of materials that are likely to be encountered in different areas of the transportation sector and suggest adhesive types that might be used in joining those combinations. There will also be a discussion of adhesive market trends by end use sector. 

Objectives:

1. Attendees will learn the dynamics of lightweighting and the importance and implications of this trend to the transportation sector.
2. Attendees will hear highlights of key markets within the transportation sector, as well as drivers that are impacting those markets.
3. Attendees will understand the different types of often dissimilar materials likely to be encountered when assembling various structures in transportation applications.
4. Attendees will hear about the various adhesive types commonly used in joining those materials and combinations of materials.
5. Attendees will learn key adhesive characteristics and drivers that align with specific transportation markets.

SPEAKER

George Ritter
The ChemQuest Group

Following over 40 years of diverse experience in adhesive applications development, George Ritter, Ph.D., joined ChemQuest in 2018. His expertise includes flexible packaging, automotive, aerospace, and marine structures, along with electronics and medical assemblies. He has a particular interest in adhesives applications for developing lightweight, efficient structural designs.

George’s technical experience includes adhesive bonding and sealant selection for extreme and corrosive environments; weldbonding of structures; joining for plastics, elastomers, and metals; integration of composite structures; welding of advanced thermoplastic composites (PEEK, PEI), polyamides, acetals, polyesters, and polyolefins; and formulations for electrical and thermal management. His business/management experience includes project technical management for both commercial and government levels, along with technology plans and government interactions with the U.S. Department of Defense (especially the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force), Mantech, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

George has been a frequent speaker and instructor at many conferences throughout his career. He holds a BS in chemistry from Baldwin-Wallace College and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Case Western Reserve University.