European Society for Composite Materials



		ESCM Best Poster Award 2008

		ESCM Award 2008

		ECCM 13 (2008)

		ECCM 12 (2006)

		ECCM 11 (2004)

During ECCM 13, the ESCM Best Poster Award was given to:

Theodoros Loutas, George Sotiriadis, Alkis Paipetis, Dionysios T.G. Katerelos, Vassilis Kostopoulos and Steven L. Ogin

for their excellent work entitled:

In-situ damage monitoring of cross-ply laminates using acoustic emission

The jury appreciated:

The comparison of acoustic emission and visual in-situ
The scientific content presented in a well-structure way
The good presentation and the topic: Important topic of damage-NDE correlation
The possibility to define from acoustic emission measurements different failure mechanisms is clearly demonstrated and validated by another (visual) method.

The corresponding author, Alkis Paipetis, received a bronze medal celebrating Europe, during the banquet, on Wednesday June 4.

Prof. Jacques Lamon, President of the ESCM Council 2006-2008, presents the
1st ESCM Award (2008) to Prof. Paepegem.

The first recipient of the ESCM Award was announced during ECCM 13, in Stockholm, June 2-5, 2008.

The ESCM Award which was launched this year, recognizes the accomplishments of a young researcher who made significant contributions in the field of Composite Materials.

The following criteria were used in selecting the recipient:

age below 35
work in the area of composite materials in a laboratory or a university in Europe
work that has made a significant academic or national or industrial impact.

There were 8 excellent candidates from different countries: Belgium, France, Greece, Poland, Switzerland, UK and Iran.

The winner was Wim Van Paepegem.

Wim VAN PAEPEGEM is professor at Ghent University in Belgium. He has obtained his PhD degree in 2002 in the field of fatigue of composites. Since then, he has continued his research on mechanics of composites, both as a postdoctoral research fellow and as a professor.

His main research interests are in fatigue, impact and damage mechanics of composites. He is currently supervising 10 PhD students and has published more than 40 articles in Science Citation Index journals.

The award was presented to Wim Van Paepegem during the banquet, on Wednesday June 4.

The award is a Cosmos bronze medal celebrating Science and Europe. In this piece of art, the artist has expressed life, movement and the future via scientific research and Europe.

Wim Van Paepegem delivered the Albert Cardon Lecture. His lecture was entitled:

My research on Composites: a matrix of fascination reinforced with fibers of dedication


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The thirteenth European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM 13) was held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 2nd to 5th, 2008.
ECCM is Europe’s leading conference on composite materials. As such it will follow the long tradition of the ECCM conference series with a wide scope of technical topics in composite materials research. The conference attracts internationally renowned scientists, engineers and designers in the field of composites.
Click here to view the ECCM 13 brochure.
Click here to visit the official site of ECCM 12.


The composite concept is fantastic. Since the imagination of researchers and engineers has no limit, the number of possible combinations is theoretically infinite. Hence, the field of investigation is very wide. We can look at two opposite directions and explore two opposite worlds. On one side the nanoscale and the microscale, on the other side the macroscale of composite components or systems.
Composite Science bridges the gap between the nanoworld and the macroworld. It involves fundamental and applied research. Europe is at the forefront. ECCM is a reference Conference on composite materials. It is the place where the latest results in the various areas of composite science and engineering are presented and discussed.
ECCM series of conferences is organized every two years by the European Society of Composite Materials. In 2006, ECCM 12 organization was taken over by France and Portugal. Such co-organization involving two neighbouring countries illustrates the European spirit.
The Conference took place in one of the Convention Centres of Biarritz.
Click here to visit the official site of ECCM 12.


The 11th European Conference on Composite Materials took place in Rhodes, Greece, from May 31 to June 3, 2004. 409 scientists from Academic Insitutions and Industry participated in the Conference which, under the recognition of the Marie-Curie Mobility Actions Programme, provided support to 40 early and experienced scientists.
37 European and non-European countries were represented in ECCM 11: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Fyrom, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA.
324 papers where presented either orally or as posters in the 19 different conference topics: Automated Manufacturing of Composites, Ceramic Matrix Composites, Composites, Environment and Renewable Energy, Composites in Construction, Composites in Transportation, Damage of Composites, Fatigue of Composites, Fibres, Fracture and Failure in Composites, General Applications of Composites, Interface, Mechanical Properties of Composites, Metal Matrix Composites, Modelling, Nanocomposites, Natural Composites – Biomaterials, Non-Destructive Testing of Composites, Polymer Matrices, Smart Composites.
The conference was organized in 6 parallel sessions, while another 4 workshops run concurrently (VAFTEM - Testing Procedures and Standards for High Performance FIbres, Designing with non-crimp fabrics, CEN, Nanofun-Poly)
Click here to visit the official site of ECCM 11.