Adhesive Bonding

Simon Canfer: Composite Materials Group Leader, Science and Technology Facilities Council

Simon started his career in the water industry, gained a degree with the Open University and has spent most of his career at STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Lab in Oxfordshire. He started as a Materials Technician, then Project Engineer and he now leads the Composites and Materials Testing Group. His work involves formulating and testing materials for projects in particle physics, fusion energy, superconducting technology and neutron science. With each new generation of experiments, more extreme environments are involved, so custom formulations are often required. With his multidisciplinary group he maintains an adhesives and composites formulation, characterisation, thermal and mechanical testing lab.

Bernice Robinson: Composite Materials Team Lead, 1710 Naval Air Squadron, Ministry of Defence

Bernice Robinson is the Navy Command subject matter expert for aviation composite materials. Bernice joined the MOD in 1995 after graduating from the University of Southampton with a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering and from Imperial College London with an MSc in Composite Materials, undertaking projects in machining of composites and surface pre-treatments for bonding composite material substrates. She has studied the recycling of aircraft composite materials at PhD level and is aiming to reduce damage to composite components with awareness training, reuse components with effective repairs and recycle components by promoting scrap components being forwarded for repair training and research work into emerging technologies. Bernice undertakes material fault and failure investigations on aircraft structures and components and provides advice on all composite materials related matters.

Ewen Kellar: Consultant - Adhesive Technologies, TWI

Ewen is TWI’s adhesive bonding and surface preparation consultant with over twenty-five years' experience in the field of adhesives and adhesion technology. He joined TWI in 1996 and since then he has worked on the analysis, characterisation and testing of adhesives, engineering polymers, surface pre-treatment of metals and composite materials. He has worked with many companies in almost every industrial sector including Airbus, Rolls Royce, Lloyd’s Register, RNLI, Bombardier, JCB, DePuy etc. Ewen is author of over 40 publications including papers, technical presentations and magazine articles and a chapter contributor to three significant books relating to adhesives and adhesion science. He is the TWI representative for the Society of Adhesion and Adhesives (SAA) and is a committee member for BSI PRI/052 Adhesives standards. In recent years, he helped develop and deliver an adhesives bonder course based upon the EWF-European Adhesive Bonder syllabus.

Ben Humphreys: Manufacturing Engineering Specialist, Airbus UK

Ben is a Manufacturing Engineering specialist based in the Airbus wing manufacturing facility near Chester UK. His early experiences were with Control and Instrumentation in the Steel Industry, later on this included problem solving and productivity improvements relating to coil coating. For 15 years he has been involved in introducing new processes and enhancing the existing ones relating to manufacturing in Airbus Commercial Aircraft. In particular his focus related to sealing, painting and surface preparation, requiring a broad understanding of wing assembly.

Adrian Gill: Lead Specialist, Blades, Vestas Wind Systems

Adrian is Lead Specialist for Blades at Vestas Wind Systems with responsibility for Structural Engineering and Materials. Wind turbine Blades are 75m heavily loaded assembled structures giving him an interesting perspective on glues and adhesion. Based in the United Kingdom, Adrian has been at Vestas for 12 years. Prior to this, he obtained his PhD and Masters’ at Imperial College London.

Chris Dighton: Senior Materials Engineer, BAE Systems

Chris recently completed his engineering doctorate with the University of Surrey, placed in industry with BAE Systems. His research focussed primarily on the atmospheric plasma treatment of composites surfaces as a pre-bond cleaning routine, and the testing of adhesively bonded structural T-joints using digital image correlation as a full-field strain measurement technique. Now a Senior Materials Engineer at BAE Systems, he is co-ordinating research projects concerning advanced composite manufacturing techniques at the National Composites Centre in Bristol.

Guy Stanley: Manager – Underframe Project Engineering, Aston Martin

Guy is the Project Engineering Manager for Body Structures at Aston Martin Lagonda (AML). He has been at AML for nearly 5 years focusing on underframe design and project management. During this time, Guy has been involved in developing four separate models and multiple variants of vehicles, overseeing and conducting product validation testing on each vehicle and creating and improving adhesive processes. He oversaw a 12-month project between University of Wales Trinity St David, AML and the Welsh Government aimed at optimising the current adhesive processes at AML to increase efficiencies, lower environmental impact, and create job roles at our St Athan plant in Wales, all of which were achieved. Before AML he worked for Tata Motors and gained a 1st class honours degree from Coventry University.

Gareth Jones: Body Structures Engineer, Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd

Gareth joined Aston Martin around two years ago where he spent his first year as a research associate focusing on refining their Adhesive processes. Since then he has been made a permanent member of Aston Martins body structures team working on multiple projects including the refinement and application methods for their structural adhesive.

Bob Adams: Emeritus Professor of Applied Mechanics, University of Bristol

Professor Bob Adams received his PhD from Cambridge University on the subject of damping in metals in 1967, when he joined Bristol University. There, he set up groups on composites and adhesives, studying both static and dynamic behaviour. He pioneered the use of Finite Element Analysis for predicting the mechanical behaviour of bonded joints, particularly their strength. In composites, his main interest was in the measurement and prediction of the damping and dynamic moduli of laminates. 

His work on composites and adhesives developed in parallel and his group recently studied compound adhesive joints for use at high and low temperatures, such as might be encountered by supersonic aircraft as well as adhesive bonding in multimaterial lightweight structures for transport use. 

He has written and edited several books on adhesive joints, together with hundreds of papers in refereed journals and conferences. 

He is joint editor in chief of the International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives, which has the highest impact factor of all the international journals on adhesion.

Gary Critchlow: Professor of Surface and Interface Science, Head of Materials Department, University of Loughborough

Gary has worked for Loughborough University since January 1987; initially as a member of the Surface Analysis Group of Loughborough Consultants Ltd located within the Physics Department. In 1990 this group became the Institute of Surface Science and Technology (ISST) which was later integrated within what is now the Department of Materials, where he is now the Professor of Surface & Interface Science and Head of Department. Gary has spent over 25 years studying and developing surface processes to impart functionality such as: adhesion and abhesion promotion; corrosion protection, and; optoelectronic properties for companies in a wide range of industrial sectors. Recent and current research partners include: 3M; Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Bombardier Aerospace; Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL); European Space Agency (ESA); GE Aviation; Rolls Royce; University of Manchester. University of Oporto, and; University of Toulouse.

Craig Atkins: Research Engineer, University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre

Craig Atkins is a Research Engineer at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing (AMRC with Boeing). After graduating from The University of Sheffield with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, Craig joined the AMRCs Composite Centre in 2012. His main areas of work include out-of-autoclave curing (heated tooling, compression moulding of thermosets and thermoplastics), resin transfer moulding and composite joining (including thermoplastic welding). Craig is also the AMRC representative on the UK High Value Manufacturing Catapult Joining Forum, assisting in the development of collaborative research programs and acting as a point of contact for joining related enquiries. Craig has lead a variety of projects focused on using new technologies and developing and streamlining processes. Craig is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Stephen Millington: Chairman, Society for Adhesives and Adhesion

After graduating from Kingston Polytechnic in 1980 with a BSc in Applied Chemistry, Steve began his career in MOD materials quality assurance before moving to DERA at Farnborough and eventually becoming Senior Technical Consultant, Polymers & Adhesives at QinetiQ. He joined ARTIS, a business of Avon Rubber plc, in January 2011 and is responsible for delivering consultancy, testing and R+D programs for customers within Avon and a broad range of external industry sectors. Steve is currently Chairman of the Board of the Society for Adhesion and Adhesives, a technical committee within the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Tom Gibson: Service Line Specialist, On-Stream Repair, TEAM, Inc.

Tom is a Mechanical Engineer specialising in the on-stream repair of pressure systems and equipment for TEAM, Inc. TEAM delivers integrity solutions that result in greater safety, reliability, operational and economic efficiency for your most critical assets. Tom has a First Class Honours Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sheffield with experience in the energy, petrochemical and utilities industries. For over 6 years, Tom has worked on the development on composite repair solutions along with more traditional hardware such as clamps and crafted repair techniques. His research areas focus on the innovative use of composite materials as an industrial repair technique to promote their uptake across industry.

Simon Smith: Member, Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Structural Technology and Materials Group

Simon has developed modelling methods for the assessment of the quality and performance of welds and joints in structures for well over thirty years. He developed simulation techniques for creep crack growth during research at Nottingham University. He joined The Welding Institute in 1989 and led their development of modelling methods for the assessment of the performance of joints using Finite Element and Computational Fluid Dynamics. He contributed to the development of BSi documents BS 7608 ('Guide to fatigue design and assessment of steel products') and BS 7910 ('Guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures'). His work has also been used by R6 and API570. Simon was a co-author of ISO/TS 18166:2016 ('Numerical welding simulation — Execution and documentation'). He now runs Transforming Stress Ltd, based in Cambridge

Fiona Murray: Design Engineer, EDF Energy

Fiona is a chartered mechanical engineer with 28 years’ experience in maintenance engineering and asset integrity within energy. She has held the role of Technical Authority in structural and pressure systems for a major UK Oil & Gas operator for 12 years and is currently working with EDF on improving external corrosion management practices. She has used composite repair in industrial applications for over 15 years and is a strong advocate of the benefits they can offer in many situations, whether this be the avoidance of hot work, the ability to repair on-line or reducing maintenance windows for both temporary and permanent repair options. 

Richard Woodward: Senior Engineer, Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd

Richard has been working within the Body Structures Innovation and Technology team at Aston Martin Lagonda for the past two years. This is a varied role identifying, developing and validating a range of new material technologies for use on future programmes. Adhesive technology forms a large part of the role, particularly looking towards increased light weighting possibilities offered by multi-material structures. Through extensive testing of a wide range of structural adhesives the team has developed a detailed understanding of the product performance characteristics and suitability for use on Aston Martin vehicles, witnessing the advantages and limitations of current adhesive technology. Prior to joining Aston Martin he completed an Engineering Doctorate programme focussed on primary bonded structures for the high-volume automotive industry.

Mark Hancock: Chief Engineer, LM Wind Power

Anthony Croxford: Professor of Ultrasonics and Dynamics, University of Bristol