Dr. Leif Asp

Chalmers University of Technology

Dr Leif Asp holds the chair of professor in lightweight composite materials and structures at the Division of Material and Computational Mechanics in the Department of Industrial and Materials Science at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is also the Director of Chalmers’ Area of Advance in Materials Science.

Dr Asp received his PhD in Polymer Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, in 1995 and joined the Swedish Aeronautical Research Institute (FFA) in Stockholm. In 2000, he founded the Swedish Institute of Composites’ (SICOMP) office in the greater Gothenburg region, and in 2011, he was appointed head of research for the institute. During this period, he held positions as an adjunct professor at Luleå University of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology, as well as President of the European Society of Composites (ESCM). In 2015, Dr Asp joined Chalmers as a full professor. Dr Asp served as President of the International Committee on Composite Materials (ICCM) from 2017 to 2019. In the year 2014, Dr Asp was appointed a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Dr Asp’s research is focused on efficient design methodologies for carbon fibre composite transport applications. The research draws on more than 25 years experience in damage-tolerance modelling, design, and certification methods for aircraft composite structures. Since 2007, Professor Asp has led research activities on multifunctional composites. In particular, the research group studies structural battery composites, materials that can simultaneously store electrical energy and withstand mechanical loads. The work comprises material development and characterisation, ranging from the mechanical and electrochemical characterisation of constituents to cells and multicellular structures.

Outline of the presentation:
Multifunctional Composites

Multifunctional composites offer routes to disruptive innovation, providing, e.g., massless energy storage, intrinsic sensing, and morphing capabilities. This talk addresses one type of multifunctional composites – structural batteries made from carbon fibre composites. The roles of the constituents, the synthesis of the multifunctional composite, and the resulting performance will be discussed. The talk will conclude by pointing out future research directions to improve their performance and upscaling.

Dr. Philippe Christou

Huntsman Advanced Materials

Philippe Christou holds a PhD in Macromolecular Chemistry from the University of Lyon, completed at the CNRS. He spent 15 years at Hexcel working on structural matrices for composite materials before joining Huntsman Advanced Materials in Basel in 2005. From 2005 to 2020, he was responsible for the European Technical Support, covering the full range of Huntsman technologies, including composites, structural adhesives, electrical insulation, coatings, and 3D printing. Since 2020, he has been Head of Environmental & Technology Intelligence, leading a team focused on sustainability initiatives and long term technology scouting for future solutions.

Outline of the presentation:
Thermoset Polymers for Composites: An Industry Perspective on Future Needs and Constraints.

This talk will outline how, from the perspective of Huntsman Advanced Materials, sustainability pressures, cost effectiveness, and competition from alternative materials are reshaping the development of thermoset resins. We will discuss how to address these topics alongside the ongoing need for performance improvements and the development of new applications, and how to prioritise R&D teams developing future technologies.

The presentation will also discuss the challenges and barriers associated with balancing environmental ambitions with market and cost constraints. It will also highlight how digital tools and artificial intelligence can support technical development and informed decision-making as the industry adapts to these evolving demands.

Dr. Dimitrios Zarouchas

Delft University of Technology

Dr Dimitrios Zarouchas is an Associate Professor and Director of the Center of Excellence in AI for Structures, Prognostics and Health Management at the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. His research interests focus on damage mechanics and fatigue analysis of composite structures, AI-based structural health monitoring and health management, structural reliability and stochastic finite element analysis. His main goal is to develop and deploy intelligent cyber-physical structural systems with state-awareness capabilities to enable real-time diagnostics and prognostics. Dimitrios has published more than 100 journal articles and has led multimillion-dollar research and innovation projects funded by the EU, national schemes, and industry.

Outline of the presentation:
Why (and why not) AI can enhance structural and performance analysis of composites?

This presentation explores the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in advancing the structural integrity assessment and long-term performance prediction of reinforced polymer composites. AI techniques, ranging from physics-informed machine learning to deep neural networks, offer significant benefits for modelling the complex, stochastic degradation processes that govern the evolution of composite fatigue and damage. It will be shown that integrating AI-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) into diagnostics and prognostics enables real-time condition assessment, early damage detection, and accurate remaining-life estimation, enabling condition-based/predictive maintenance and improved lifecycle management of composite structures.

AI brings unprecedented computational efficiency and the ability to uncover hidden correlations across heterogeneous data sources, including sensor signals, experimental results, and simulations. These capabilities can enhance the fidelity of fatigue life prediction models and support the development of digital twins for continuous performance tracking.

However, the adoption of AI in safety-critical applications, such as airframes, faces major challenges. The interpretability and explainability of AI models remain limited, making it difficult to establish a causal understanding of predicted outcomes or to ensure regulatory compliance. Furthermore, the lack of standardised frameworks for validating and certifying AI-driven systems poses significant barriers to their widespread use in engineering practice.

The presentation will conclude by addressing these limitations and outlining pathways toward trustworthy and certifiable AI frameworks that combine data-driven and physics-based approaches. Such integration is expected to bridge the gap between predictive accuracy and interpretability, ultimately enabling reliable, explainable, and safe deployment of AI in the structural performance analysis of advanced composites.

Kim Sjödahl

Exel Composites Plc.

Kim Sjödahl is the Senior Vice President of Technology and Sustainability at Exel Composites Plc. He graduated from Chalmers University of Technology with an MSc in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in material technology and composites. Kim joined Exel Composites in 1997, starting in engineering and sales support. Following several leadership roles in engineering, he was appointed Senior Vice President in 2012, overseeing global research, development, and technology.

With over 27 years of experience in composites manufacturing and pultrusion, Kim has played a key role in advancing sustainable composite solutions. Since 2024, he has led Exel Composites’ sustainability and circularity initiatives, focusing on reducing environmental impact, improving material efficiency, and developing closed-loop solutions for composite applications.

Kim holds multiple patents related to pultrusion, composites, and components, and has collaborated with customers to create high-performance, sustainable applications. He actively contributes to industry standards and codes and participates in polymer and composite associations.

Outline of the presentation:
Forward-thinking sustainability for composites

Sustainability in composite materials requires a holistic, lifecycle-driven approach rather than isolated initiatives. Considering the full value chain, from raw material sourcing and manufacturing to product use and end-of-life, is essential for making informed decisions and enabling long-term progress toward circularity.

In this keynote, Kim Sjödahl emphasizes that no single company can achieve circularity alone. Meaningful progress depends on collaboration across the value chain, from regulators to customers via researchers, suppliers, and recycling partners. The composites industry has the capability to become significantly more sustainable by aligning efforts, sharing challenges, and embracing openness. The presentation highlights the importance of allowing multiple recycling and recovery pathways to coexist. No single solution fits all composite applications, and progress comes from coordination rather than competition between technologies. Transparency is identified as a key enabler of trust and collaboration. Openly sharing data on emissions, waste, and sustainability performance accelerates learning and strengthens collective responsibility across the industry. Leveraging industrial experience at Exel Composites, Sjödahl demonstrates how principles of circularity are actively being integrated into composite manufacturing processes. Through a review of multiple case studies, Sjödahl highlights the practical challenges and driving motivations behind these efforts, while identifying actionable strategies and priorities - particularly in advancing circular design within the industry. By aligning industry and academic efforts, composite materials can continue to deliver high performance while evolving toward a more sustainable and responsible future.

Prof. Silvestre Pinho

Imperial College London

Silvestre Taveira Pinho is a Professor in the Mechanics of Composites at Imperial College London, where he holds the Airbus Chair in Composites. He is the Vice-President of the International Committee on Composite Materials (ICCM) for Region I, Chair of ICCM's Information Committee, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, EPSRC Research Fellow, member of the Royal Aeronautical Society Structures & Materials Specialist Committee, Editor for "Composites Science and Technology" and Editor in Chief for Elsevier's book series "Woodhead Publishing Series in Composites Science and Engineering".

Silvestre's group's main interests and research contributions include novel experimental insights into various failure modes in composite materials, the proposal of novel test methods to characterise these failure modes, and the development of analytical and numerical models for composite failure, some of which are currently available natively in both Abaqus and LS-Dyna. His group has also developed bio-inspired microstructures for composites, which lead to an over fivefold increase in energy dissipation during failure; some of these have been patented and are being investigated further for eventual application in aircraft.

In 2010, Silvestre was awarded the prize for best young researcher in Composites active in Europe by the European Society for Composite Materials (ESCM), and also served as a member of the Council and the Executive Committee of the European Society for Composite Materials from 2012 to 2022. Silvestre was awarded two distinct fellowships from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2014 and 2022). Silvestre has also been a member of a UK government committee on recycling of Composites, and more recently authored the chapter on aviation of a NetZero All Party Parliamentary Group's report. He has also been interviewed for a BBC film on sustainability in aviation and delivered a TEDx talk on "New lightweight materials inspired by nature".

Outline of the presentation:
Simulation of mechanics of composites at different design stages: from sizing to certification

Simulating the mechanics of fibre-reinforced composites numerically has evolved significantly over the last few decades, with a major focus on ply-level models, ideally suited to detailed simulations of relatively small specimens. In this talk, we will discuss the potential and challenges for developing and using simulation frameworks across use cases, including sizing, damage tolerance and vulnerability, certification and digital twins.

Dr. George Pechlivanoglou

Eunice Energy Group / JOLTIE S.A.

George Pechlivanoglou studied mechanical engineering (BSc) and completed the MSc in renewable energy technology at the University of Oldenburg, Germany. He completed his doctoral dissertation (PhD) in the field of wind turbine aeroservoelasticity at TU Berlin, Germany, and did post-doctoral work at the same institute. Has published more than 90 scientific papers and holds more than 13 national and international patents.

George Pechlivanoglou has 18 years of industrial experience in the wind energy market and 10 years of experience as a wind energy expert, designer and wind turbine technical inspector with international collaborations and a global project portfolio. He held the position of the technical director of SMART BLADE GmbH for 8 years and has established several global collaborations with corporations like 3M, Vestas, Nordex, etc. He is the former Wind Energy Committee Chair at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and a member of the German Chamber of Engineers (VDI), as well as the former representative of the Technical University of Berlin at the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE). Dr G. Pechlivanoglou currently holds the position of Deputy CEO of Eunice Energy Group, and he is the CEO of JOLTIE S.A.

Outline of the presentation:
When Physics Is Not the Bottleneck: Why Energy Infrastructure Demands a New Composite Paradigm?

Energy infrastructure — wind farms, energy storage systems, hydrogen facilities, EV charging networks, and transmission assets — operates under fatigue, environmental aging, and cumulative degradation, not near ultimate material limits. Yet composite design remains focused on strength optimization and high-fidelity analysis, even when these are not the dominant drivers of system performance or cost. Wind energy demonstrates what is possible when fatigue and aging are acknowledged as primary design drivers, but composite adoption across broader energy infrastructure remains uneven — limited not by material capability, but by industrial mindset.

From an OEM and operator perspective, the critical bottleneck is not material science but tooling, processes, and operating models. Energy infrastructure requires composite systems that are inspectable, repairable, and replaceable under real-world conditions. Fatigue assessment must integrate environmental exposure and operational data, enabling decisions based on performance degradation rather than binary failure criteria.

This talk will argue that a new composite paradigm must move beyond the assumption that higher fidelity analysis automatically leads to better outcomes. It will draw on experience from marine and energy sectors to demonstrate why designing for controlled degradation, modular replacement, and lifecycle cost — supported by digital inspection, sensor integration, and AI-assisted damage assessment — is essential to align composites with the operational reality of large-scale infrastructure.

Prof. Essi Sarlin

Tampere University

Essi Sarlin is a Professor of Polymeric Materials at Tampere University, Finland. She completed her PhD in Materials Science in 2014, with a focus on materials characterization, particularly using electron microscopy techniques. Throughout her career, her research interests have spanned through different materials, consistently driven by a central goal: to understand how microscale phenomena influence macroscopic behaviour in everyday applications. Since 2010, her work has primarily focused on interfaces and interphases in composite materials. Her current research aims to deepen the understanding of how microscale factors, such as wettability and interfacial shear strength at the fibre–matrix interface, affect the overall performance and properties of composites. A key motivation behind her work is advancing the sustainability of composite structures, including efforts in recycling and the use of alternative feedstocks. Her work is done in a broad international collaboration network, working across diverse composite systems that include both synthetic and natural fibre-reinforced materials.

Outline of the presentation:
Zooming in on composite structures: Possibilities and challenges of microscale mechanical testing

Analysing the mechanical properties of composites at the coupon or component level complicates our attempts to understand structure–property–performance relationships, as several factors influence the results, including processing-induced imperfections such as porosity and fibre tortuosity. In contrast, microscale test methods offer a key advantage: the measured properties are highly sensitive to subtle changes, including modifications in fibre surface chemistry and fibre–matrix interphase characteristics. From an engineering perspective, this sensitivity makes microscale measurements particularly valuable, as they can be directly linked to interfacial mechanochemical phenomena. This, in turn, provides meaningful feedback for tailoring materials to achieve improved performance. However, this sensitivity also comes with limitations: improvements observed at the microscale, such as increased interfacial shear strength, do not necessarily translate into equivalent enhancements in the macroscale properties of composite structures. This talk explores various aspects of microscale mechanical testing of composites. It focuses in particular on the microbond test and on test platforms capable of operating under both quasi-static and dynamic also highlights examples of how microscale testing has contributed to the sustainable development of composite materials conditions to produce large, reliable datasets, along with associated characterization methods. Te presentation also highlights examples of how microscale testing has contributed to the sustainable development of composite materials.

Dr. Miguel Ángel Castillo Acero

Aernnova

Miguel holds a PhD. and MSc. in Aerospace Engineering from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Aeronáuticos (ETSIA), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. Before joining Aernnova in 2000, he developed an international aerospace career spanning more than ten years, working as an aerospace analyst at C.A.S.A., now Airbus (Getafe, Spain), Boeing (Seattle, USA), and Hispano Suiza, now SAFRAN (Le Havre, France). Throughout his career at Aernnova, he has held a variety of management, executive, and corporate positions and currently serves as Vice President of Technology Development. His professional experience provides a well-balanced background in the aviation industry, encompassing engineering, research and development, operations, contract negotiations, financial management, strategic business development, and general management. He has demonstrated strong leadership capabilities and a proven track record in organizational and people management. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Spanish Aerospace, Defence and Security Association (TEDAE) and currently represents Aernnova as an active member of the Civil Aviation Business Unit of the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD). He serves as Editor of the CEAS Aeronautical Journal and acts as a reviewer for scientific journals as well as national and international research and innovation agencies. He is the author of numerous scientific and outreach publications, book chapters, and patents. In addition, he collaborates as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain.

Outline of the presentation:
Aernnova’ s Industrial Vision for Next-Generation Composite Aerostructures

The next generation of commercial aircraft will require composite aerostructures that are lighter, more sustainable, affordable and capable of being produced at significantly higher production rates. From the perspective of Aernnova as an aerospace Tier 1 supplier, this keynote presents an industrial vision structured around four key questions: which composite technologies should be matured, how they can contribute to weight reduction, how manufacturing systems can support future production rates, and how innovation can remain economically viable.

The presentation will address advanced composite materials and processes, structural integration, manufacturability, inspection, repairability and certification. It will also discuss the role of automation, robotics, digital manufacturing, real-time monitoring and digital twins in building robust and predictable production systems. The central message is that the future of composite aerostructures will depend not only on technical performance, but on the disciplined maturation of industrially scalable technologies with clear lifecycle cost reduction and measurable business impact.

Plenary 1, Monday 22 June, 08:00

From Wind Waste to Wind Blade

The transition toward a circular economy is reshaping the composites industry. Several composite recycling technologies now exist, from emerging solutions to mature processes at TRL 7–9. A small but growing group of pioneers is transitioning to commercial-scale operations, among them Gjenkraft and OCF. Full circularity, however, remains elusive. Closing the loop end-to-end, from end-of-life GFRP to new commercial products, demands industrial collaboration across the value chain that no single technology can deliver alone.

To address this, Gjenkraft and OCF have joined forces to bring composites circularity to an industrial scale. By combining Gjenkraft’s proprietary multistep thermal processing with OCF’s proprietary remelting technology, glass fibres are recovered from used GFRP parts and reprocessed into new feedstocks. Their joint demonstration project targets 100 tonnes of Gjenkraft-recovered glass fibre to be remelted by OCF into new commercial fibreglass: a first-of-its-kind closed-loop validation across the GFRP value chain.

The primary target waste stream is end-of-life wind turbine blades. Composites are fundamental to wind energy, enabling longer blades and more efficient turbines capable of withstanding harsh offshore environments. While up to 90% of a turbine’s mass is already recyclable, WindEurope members committed in 2021 to reuse, recover, or recycle 100% of decommissioned blades. End-of-life blade waste is expected to reach around 50 kt by 2030, making scalable closed-loop recycling solutions critical to meeting that commitment and converting a rapidly growing waste stream into high-value secondary raw materials.

This presentation will showcase the current recycling capabilities of Gjenkraft and OCF, outline the roadmap to industrial scale-up, and discuss the key remaining challenges to transitioning closed-loop recycling from demonstration to large-scale industrial use. Addressing these challenges is fundamental to making the glass fibre composite industry truly circular.

Speakers

Marcin Rusin

Gjenkraft AS

Marcin Rusin is the CEO and co-founder of Gjenkraft AS, a Norwegian company pioneering sustainable recycling of composite waste, including end-of-life wind turbine blades. He brings more than a decade of multidisciplinary engineering and project management experience across various technical fields, which he now applies to the industrial-scale circularity of thermoset composites. Since co-founding Gjenkraft, Marcin has led the company's development from concept to its first commercial recycling line, currently being commissioned in Hoyanger, Norway. He represents Gjenkraft in the Horizon Europe REFRESH project, focused on industrial demonstration of composite recycling technologies, and engages with partners across the composites value chain to advance offtake and circular solutions. Marcin is committed to positioning Gjenkraft as a European leader in composite recycling.

About Gjenkraft

Gjenkraft AS is a Norwegian cleantech company developing industrial-scale recycling of thermoset composites. Based in Hoyanger, Norway, Gjenkraft is commissioning its first commercial line dedicated to the recovery of glass and carbon fibres from end-of-life wind turbine blades and other composite waste streams. Through proprietary process technology and collaboration with industry partners, Gjenkraft aims to close the loop on composites and become a European leader in sustainable composite recycling.

Alessandro Forestieri

Owens Corning

Alessandro Forestieri earned a Master of Science degree in Materials and Nanotechnology Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2014. He began his career as an application engineer for chains and conveyor belts serving industrial and automotive applications. Returning to his passion for composite materials, Alessandro joined Owens Corning, now OCF, as an application laboratory manager in 2016. He subsequently progressed through a variety of roles, ranging from product engineer to application engineer, for poles, SMC, and thermoplastic applications with a focus on the infrastructure and automotive markets. In 2024, he joined the company’s sustainability organization as Circularity Lead for Europe. From October 2025, he took on the role of Sustainability Lead, leading European projects for fiberglass and composite recycling, setting the strategy for product carbon footprint reduction, working to implement waste take-back service, building reverse logistics, and collaborating with key industry partners to develop solutions for glass and composite recycling up to the end of life.

About Glass Reinforcements

Glass Reinforcements is a member of the Praana Group portfolio of businesses and a leading global provider of solutions matching the differentiated needs of the growing composites industry. We operate as OCF – Original Composites & Fibers, with the tagline, “The Original Composites Company™.” More than 85 years ago, as part of Owens Corning, the GR business pioneered the modern composites industry. Today, we leverage a powerful combination of material science, manufacturing excellence, and deep market and customer knowledge to serve the global wind, building and construction, thermoplastic compounding, and composites speciality markets. With more than 4,000 employees and operations in 12 countries, OCF generates annual revenues of approximately $1.2 billion.

Plenary 2, Tuesday 23 June, 08:00

Theory and practice of composites in renewable energy - how dreams come true

The presentation discusses the potential of composite materials to revolutionize various engineering fields. Shows successful (structural) use cases of composites and explains why they were or were not successful commercially. It dives into the mechanisms dominating such structures’ behavior and describes methods and techniques that have been developed for the experimental investigation and the modeling of the materials/structural behavior under realistic loading patterns.

By analyzing the past and showing how composites assisted in reinventing wind energy and translating it from local, small-scale workshops (windmills) to industrial energy production systems (wind turbines) this talk shows how composites can be implemented to materialize the dreams of visionary engineers and innovative industries.

Further, the presentation gives an insight into how scientific methods are applied in industrial practice to enable reliable composite structures in renewable energies for the future, showcasing a recent onshore rotor blade design.

Speakers

Anastasios P. Vassilopoulos

Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Prof. Anastasios P. Vassilopoulos leads the activities of the Composite Mechanics group at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Holding a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Patras in Greece (2001), Anastasios developed expertise in fatigue and durability of composite materials and structures, focusing mainly on composite applications for renewable energies, with a special interest in wind energy. Since 2018, Anastasios has been active in innovation actions regarding the implementation of composite materials in novel applications for architectural façade elements, bridges and offshore floating infrastructure. Anastasios served as President of the European Society for Composite Materials (ESCM) from 2022 to 2024. During this period, with the effortless support of the ESCM council members, he led a renewal of society’s constitution and strategic vision, by introducing a new visual identity and logo, by launching a LinkedIn presence and by promoting a more open and inclusive communication culture. These activities are aimed at broadening society’s engagement with younger researchers, the industry and the public.

Alexander Krimmer

TPI Composites Germany GmbH

Alexander Krimmer is a principal engineer with TPI Composites Germany GmbH, being the wind energy rotor blade design entity of globally acting TPI Composites Inc. Holding a Doctor of Engineering in the field of composite lightweight design from the Technische Universtät (TU) Berlin (2014), Alex has been designing wind energy rotor blade structures since 2008. Within this area, he specialized in composite material fatigue. Next to his TPI activities, Alex is teaching manufacturing and design or fiber reinforced plastic structures at the chair of Aircraft Design and Aerostructures at TU Berlin. Further, Alex serves as the chair of the industrial advisory board “rotor blades” for the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES).

Plenary 3, Wednesday 24 June, 08:00

A revolutionary laminate theory: simplified design, testing and manufacturing

A double-double can perform in 4 plies that can take Quad 10 plies to match. DD can be homogenized, represented by one parameter for stiffness and strength, which Quad cannot do. Composite materials and DD laminates can be uncoupled and scaled to simplify design, testing and manufacturing. DD offers unique opportunities to taper, to be coupled with thin plies, and to have negative thermal expansions, all of which cannot be done with Quad.

Speaker

Stephen W. Tsai

Stephen W. Tsai was born in Beijing, educated at Yale, worked for Foster Wheeler, Ford, Washington University, the US Air Force Materials Laboratory, and Stanford University. He started in composite materials in 1961 and is still working 65 years later. His name is tied to quadratic failure criteria, lamination parameters, invariant formulation, strength ratio, omnifailure envelopes, and double-double laminates. He was elected to the US Academy of Engineers in 1995, and winner of the Guggenheim Medal in 2025.