Bonding Thermoplastics: Aerospace’s Unseen Challenge

Aircraft interiors continue to focus on lighter weight, aesthetically pleasing, and fully functional designs. This means using considerable more thermoplastic materials, and joining those materials. Traditional fasteners have been found to be undesirable because the necessary fastener holes lead to stress concentrations and/or micro-cracks which result in failure points. This presentation will discuss the challenges associated with bonding thermoplastics; which are typically unforeseen by the aerospace industry, and yet crucial to overcome. In order to fully incorporate thermoplastics into aircraft interiors we must innovate the solutions to these challenges.

About the Speaker

Michelle Woods received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University in 2007. She joined the Boeing team in 2008 and during that time has worked on all aspects of aircraft interiors. In 2018 and 2019, she used a self-designed project to mentor University of Washington Material Science Engineering students in the challenges related to bonding thermoplastics. Outside of work, Michelle enjoys cooking, sewing, crocheting, and traveling.