Sampe Europe Students Seminar

Objectives & History

  • Introduce students studying in the fields of Materials and Process Science or Engineering to SAMPE
  • Develop a future generation of SAMPE members
  • Create the nucleus of a future M&P network in Europe

Initiated by Rob Schliekelmann in 1986. Invite university students on the expense of SAMPE. Based on good results of European Conference in 1985. Since 1985 every year a SAMPE Europe Students Seminar is organized. Over the years more than 500 students participated.

Principles

  • Offer students the opportunity to become acquainted with the work of their colleagues in other European countries.
  • The SAMPE Students Seminar held in conjunction with the SAMPE Europe International Conference is an excellent opportunity to show the students the SAMPE network.
  • The students program is organized in such a way that a coherent student group is formed during the conference week.
  • Students offer assistance in main SAMPE Europe Conference, and show posters of their work during the Conference.

Students are selected from European countries by the local SAMPE Chapters or Clubs, and increasingly by local student’s seminars.

Selection criteria

  • Excellent students in material and process science and engineering
  • MSc students in their final year (at moment of selection)
  • PhD students in the middle of their project

THE SAMPE EUROPE STUDENTS GRANT provides recipient with travel expenses, board and lodging as well as participation fee for the International SAMPE Europe Conference.

Awards

Schliekelmann Award: Best student selected to participate in University Student Symposium during CAMX Conference and Exhibition, USA. Second student selected to participate to the SAMPE University Leadership Experience during the SAMPE North America Conference and Exhibition.

Mainsponsor Students Seminar

Young Engineer’s Challenge

Come and put your skills to the test and enter our new Young Engineers Challenge. Show how you would improve the component’s present sustainability by proposing a route to reduce its environmental impact.

Students Seminar Archive

40th International SAMPE Europe Students Seminar

The next European Students Seminar will take place October 2025 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The Seminar as such is on invitation only. Posters of the presentations given by participants of the Students Seminar are shown at the SAMPE Europe Conference 2025. Students who like to attend this conference are more than welcome. See this page for the upcoming conference.

39th International SAMPE Europe Students Seminar

Master student Marion Cardous (Benelux) and PhD student Pierre-Louis PICHARD (France) are the proud winners of the 39th Students Seminar 2024! Both winners presented their winning thesis in the SE Conference in Belfast.

Marion Cardous, best Master presented her study “Optimization of a MXene-based thermoplastic carbon-fibre reinforced composite for structural capacitive energy storage.”

PhD winner Pierre-Louis PICHARD presented his study about “Low-velocity impact performance assessment of 3D-printed bio-inspired composites.”

Furthermore, an honorable mention for PhD Louise GRAU (France) with her study “Reproduction of the thermomechanical behaviour of a single crystal nickel-based superalloy during solidification and recrystallization.”

This annual Seminar was held at the SAMPE Europe Conference 2024 in Belfast. 16 selected students from 10 countries were invited and presented their thesis to an International Experts Jury.

Marion Cardous (Benelux)
Pierre-Louis Pichard (France)
Louise Grau (France)

38th International SAMPE Europe Students Seminar

Master student Martin Giersberg (IKV- Institute for Plastics Processing in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University, Germany) and PhD student Clemens Zimmerling (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany) are the proud winners of the 38th Students Seminar 2023! Both winners presented their winning thesis in the Madrid 23 Conference.

Martin Giersberg, best Master presented his study “Development of a representative volume element for the observation of damage processes in FRPS”.

This demonstration of the representativeness of micro-models of a degraded material enables further knowledge to be gained in the investigation of degradation processes in FRP as well as the derivation of new modeling approaches for mapping the influence of damage in the dimensioning of safety-relevant infrastructure. The presented methodology for determining the existence and the dimensions of a RVE is generally transferable to heterogeneous materials with statistically random microstructures, which exhibit pronounced softening behavior during loading. This methodology can include short, long, or continuous fiber-reinforced plastics with a thermoplastic or thermoset matrix.

PhD winner Clemens Zimmerling presented his study about “Machine learning algorithms for efficient process optimization of variable geometries at the example of fabric forming.”

The present work shows that recent ML techniques can efficiently support process and product optimisation at early stages of development. Similar to an experienced process expert, they can quickly and accurately assess the manufacturability of new components and issue process recommendations. Thereby, they reduce the effort required for process ramp-up and are a key factor to efficient production of small batches or individualised components.

This annual Seminar was held at the SAMPE Europe Conference 2023 in Madrid, Spain. 16 selected students from 10 countries were invited and presented their thesis to an International Experts Jury.

Winners 38th International SAMPE Europe Students Seminar

37th International SAMPE Europe Students Seminar

Daniel C. Fritsche (Master Honorable mention, IKV, Germany), Eduardo Gonzalo Miguel (Master winner, University Carlos III, Spain / Portugal), Vincent Schenk (PhD honorable mention, Université Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, France), and Philip Druiff (PhD winner, University of Bristol, UK) are the proud winners of the 37th Students Seminar 2022. This annual Seminar was held at the SAMPE Europe 2022 Conference in Hamburg, Germany. 13 selected students from 7 countries were invited and presented their thesis to the International Experts Jury.

PhD winner Philip Druiff presented his study about “Machine learning based data-driven automated fibre placement.” The quality of the components manufactured by Automated Fibre Placement is dependent on multiple process parameters and their interactions. However, these relationships are often complex and interdependent. In order to investigate these relationships, data was captured continuously during AFP layup. A number of process parameters, including compaction force, surface temperature and lay-up speed, were measured continuously and were used to train and deploy machine learning models.

Eduardo Gonzalo Miguel was the best Master with his presentation “Thermal residual stress induced at cryogenic temperatures in composite materials for lh2 storage tank applications.” In this project, a numerical and an analytical model were developed to identify and validate the trends and the order of magnitude of these thermal residual stresses when brought under cryogenic conditions (-253ºC). An extrapolation of thermomechanical properties for the 8552/AS4 laminate was used to introduce them into the numerical models due to the lack of experimental data. The main purpose of this extrapolation was to estimate the thermomechanical of composite materials at very low temperatures.

Because of a close call a honorable Mention was given in each category.

PhD Vincent Schenk presented “Vitrimer composites for aeronautics.” Herein, he developed a promising high-performance epoxy vitrimer with a high glass transition temperature for aeronautics applications and compatible with conventional composite manufacturing processes. The capacity of this vitrimer to fulfil all processing specifications such as viscosity, reactivity and gel time was verified. Afterwards, carbon fibre-free vitrimers and vitrimer composites were manufactured using Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) and compared to reference epoxy counterparts through different experiments to determine their physico-chemical and mechanical properties. The first results were promising for making reprocessable epoxy vitrimer composites.

Master Daniel C. Fritsche was awarded for his study “Investigation of the frequency influence on the fatigue behavior of short glass fiber reinforced plastics using quasi-isothermal tests.” This paper presents a novel test methodology for quasi-isothermal fatigue testing and the obtained results for a Polybutylene terephthalate with 30 % (weight content) glass fiber (PBT-GF30) at different frequencies.

36th International SAMPE Europe Students Seminar

Margot Bonmatin and Felix Tischer are the proud winners of the 36th Students Seminar 2021. This annual Seminar was held at the SAMPE Europe 21 Hybrid Conference 2021 in Baden/Zürich, Switzerland. 14 selected students from 9 countries were invited and presented their thesis to an International Experts Jury.

Margot Bonmatin, Ph.D. student at ENIT, Toulouse University (France) won the 36th SAMPE Students Seminar with her presentation about “Ultrasonic welding of PAEK composites”. This study has brought to light the significant impact of welding load and welding time on the mechanical properties of the weld whereas semi-amplitude has only shown a small influence on Lap Shear Strength (LSS) values. She won with this presentation the Schliekelmann Award: Best student selected to participate in SAMPE Student Symposium during the CAMX Conference 2022 in Anaheim, California, USA.

Felix Tischer, Master Student from the Institute for Plastics Processing of the RWTH Aachen (Germany) is working on improving productivity and automation. He won with his master thesis research on the “Theoretical and Practical Investigation of Flow Processes in Injection Chambers for the Pultrusion Process with Dimensionless Numbers”. The experimental investigations of this work demonstrate the transferability of the flow field defined by elementary impregnation parameters for specific impregnation parameters. His prize was the Student Leadership Award: Best MSc student selected to participate in the SAMPE Student Leadership Experience during SAMPE USA Conference 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

35th International Students Seminar, Amsterdam 2020

Vera Dahmen and Xavier Sourd are the winners of the 35th Students Seminar 2020, held at Sampe Amsterdam Virtual Conference 2020.

Vera Dahmen, Master Student from Aachen (Germany) is working on improving the sustainability and the recycling of composites. She won with her master thesis research on the “Manufacturing concepts for thermoplastic FRP pressure vessels in the laser-assisted tape laying process”.

Xavier Sourd, PhD student from Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier / Institut Clément Ader, won the 35th SAMPE Students Seminar with his presentation about “Abrasive Water Jet machining of multi-material engine parts in the context of repair”.

Both presentations were very well received by the judges allowing them to see off competitors from prestigious universities in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine.

34nd International Students Seminar, Nantes 2019

Chris Hunt (PHD) and Yannick Buser (MS) are the winners of the 34th Students Seminar 2019.

Chris Hunt, a Bristol Composites Institute PhD student, won the 34th SAMPE Students Seminar. Chris’s presentation on his research into the mechanics of WrapToR composite truss structures was very well-received by the judges, allowing him to see off six competitors from prestigious universities in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and the UK. Yannick Buser, won with his master thesis research on the in-process flow behavior of LFTs.”

33nd International Students Seminar, Southampton 2018

French PhD. Student Paul VAN DER SYPT has won the competition on all fronts: Poster, Attitude and above all his Presentation and has been proclaimed European Champion 2018.

Swiss Alice LAMARO from ETH Zürich was the best Master student.

32nd International Students Seminar, Stuttgart 2017

Award Winners 2017 Students Seminar Stuttgart – Germany

Schliekelmann Award, PhD student winner:

Saber Chelaghma, IRT Saint Exupéry, France
Crystallization Kinetic Modeling Of Multifunctional Thermoplastic Composites… First Step Towards Mechanical And Electrical Optimization.

Student Leadership Award: Master student winner :

Jim Gilbert, KU Leuven, Belgium
Simulation Of Thermoset Polymer Composite Curing

2016 Liège

Schliekelmann Award:

Sarianna Palola, Tampere University of Technology, Finland An approach to modify and evaluate interfacial adhesion of aramid fiber bundles and rubber matrix.

Student Leadership Award

Erik Krämer, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands Shape distortions in overmolded thermoplastic stamp formed composites.

2015 Amiens

Schliekelmann Award:

Arthur Babeau, École Centrale de Nantes, France Modeling of Thermoplastic Composites Pultrusion.