Gairesa, as an international reference manufacturer in the field of resins for composite materials, was present at the thirteenth edition of the National Congress of Composite Materials held on July 3, 4 and 5 in Vigo. Our technical director Senén Paz Abuín, PhD in Chemistry and Physics, presented the latest advances of our R&D department in the search for new materials of renewable origin for the manufacture of composites, focusing on the total or partial substitution of resins derived from bisphenol A. The conference was entitled “Epoxy matrices for Bisphenol-A free composites”.
MATCOMP, promoted by the Spanish Composite Materials Association (AEMAC), is the most important event of the scientific, academic and business community around composites and high performance materials in Spain.
The 2019 edition, jointly organized by AEMAC, the Galician Automotive Technology Center (CTAG) and the University of Vigo, was held for the first time in its history in Galicia and focused on reinforcing the impact of composite materials in Industry 4.0 and the Circular Economy for the most strategic economic sectors such as automotive, naval, aeronautics, renewable energies and construction, among others.
The National Congress of Composite Materials (Matcomp), organized by the Spanish Association of Composite Materials (Aemac) since 1995, celebrated its thirteenth edition, visiting the industrial city of Vigo, from July 3 to 5. This biennial and itinerant congress is recognized as the most important meeting of the academic, scientific and business community in the field of composite materials in Spain. Since its beginnings, its objective has been to serve as a communication forum to promote research, development, innovation, use and dissemination of composite materials.
In its thirteenth edition, Matcomp19 featured more than 200 research papers. During three intense days and in five simultaneous halls, around 165 papers were presented as oral presentations and 35 posters. In addition, four plenary lectures were given by renowned speakers.
Throughout its 25-year history, the topics addressed have varied as composite materials have been incorporated into new sectors. In Matcomp19, the first edition with a slogan, ‘Composites for Industry 4.0’, seven blocks were organized: Advances in composite materials; Multifunctional, bio-inspired and smart materials; Fields of application of composite materials; Manufacturing processes and joining techniques; In-service behavior, inspection and repair techniques and, finally, Recycling and sustainability, which included eight presentations on the last day and six posters.
In order to reinforce the impact of composites, not only in Industry 4.0 but also in the Circular Economy, two sectorial roundtables were held: the transport roundtable, with the presence of Airbus, Talgo and Rodman Polyships, among others, and the Energy, Habitat and Leisure roundtable, with Acciona, Galventus and Blindaxe Export, among others. All scientific papers will be published in the online magazine published quarterly by Aemac since 2017 and entitled Materiales Compuestos.