SPE ACCE 2020 Virtual Event to Feature Lanxess' Technical Director as First Keynote Speaker

As with several other annual plastics and composites conferences, this year’s 20^th SPE Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE), said to be the leading automotive composites forum, will be a virtual event due to COVID 19. “Composites—Driving Innovative Transportation with Electrification, Mobility, Autonomy,” is the theme for this year’s event reflecting the industry advancing with new technologies and polymer composites solutions. And despite the relatively lackluster comeback of the automotive industry during this pandemic, these technologies are expected to both come to fruition and excel.

Scheduled for September 9-11, ACCE 2020’s recently announced first keynote speaker will be Jose Chirino, technical director for the high performance materials business unit at Lanxess Corp., and American Chemistry Council (ACC) Automotive team chair.

Chirino will present ACC’s 2020 Plastics and Automotive Technology Roadmap for Future Mobility including lightweight plastics’ and composites’ role in vehicle and passenger safety, their essential contributions to mega trends like autonomous driving, and latest research projects shaping the industry.

The intent of the presentation is to outline ACC’s new roadmap to help automakers and their suppliers invent mobility solutions that can meet the demands of the revolution underway in personal mobility. The roadmap calls for a series of industrywide, collaborative activities to capture opportunities in each area of the ACCESS framework—Autonomy, Connectivity, Circularity, Electrification, Shared Mobility and Sustainability.

Said Chirino, “Mobility solutions of the future will be enabled by the unique and flexible characteristics inherent in polymer composites. Composites enable safe and seamless integration of sensors, electronics, and batteries into vehicles without adding extra weight. Automotive fuel economy is improved and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced with the mass savings enabled by lightweight plastics and polymer composites. Polymer composites can also enhance interiors with improved wear and tear, antimicrobial surfaces, and enable modular and multi-configurable interior components desired in shared and autonomous vehicles.”

In addition to daily keynote presentations, the three-day virtual ACCE will feature approximately 45 technical presentations, two-to-three panel discussions, and over 50 sponsors presenting advances in materials, processes, and equipment for both thermoset and thermoplastic composites in a wide variety of transportation applications.

Daily virtual networking opportunities will enhance the value of the event that expects to draw over 400 attendees worldwide. The Automotive and Composites Divisions of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) jointly produce the ACCE to educate the industry about the benefits of composites in automotive, light and heavy-duty truck, off-highway vehicles, and other ground transportation applications.

The technical presentations are organized in the following categories:

▪ Advances in Thermoplastic Composites

▪ Advances in Thermoset Composites

▪ Virtual Prototyping

▪ Testing & Modeling

▪ Reinforcement Technologies

▪ Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing

▪ Nanocomposites

▪ Enabling Technologies

▪ Sustainable Composites

▪ Bonding, Joining & Finishing

▪ Opportunities & Challenges with Carbon Composites