CINCINNATI – The ChemQuest Group Inc. announced that, through its exclusive partnership in North America with Fraunhofer IFAM, it will deliver the EWF-European Adhesive Bonder (EAB) course, held Jan. 22–26, 2018.

Increasingly, adhesives are being specified by OEMs for critical applications requiring a trained and qualified workforce to ensure maximum reliability. Adhesive bonding operators in U.S. production plants are challenged by internal and external customer performance specifications while complying with industry standards, global and regional regulations, and interpreting adhesive formulators’ technical data sheets (TDS) and material safety data sheets (MSDS).

To meet this need, ChemQuest is offering the only opportunity for European standards training and certification in North America.

In today’s manufacturing environment, an understanding of the factors that influence the quality of a bond is essential to quality assurance. These include surface treatment, test methods, manufacturing technology, as well as worker health and safety, and environmental protection, which are thoroughly covered in the Fraunhofer IFAM EWF (EAB) course curriculum.

Beginning with adhesives fundamentals, course participants will become familiarized with the advantages of adhesive bonding over other joining techniques. The integrity of the bonds will be explained using the concept of bonding forces. Participants will learn which types of adhesives are the most important to industry (and why), to include the application-dependent properties for which the adhesive is specified. Practical assignments will reinforce the correct processes and curing conditions for different adhesives systems.

The EAB course curriculum will facilitate hands-on learning in virtually any product assembly setting, ranging from contract manufacturers employing manual assembly methods to the highly automated production lines of multinational OEM manufacturers (and tier suppliers). 

ChemQuest’s Dr. Richard Hartshorn is uniquely qualified as the IFAM-certified EAB instructor, having held management positions in adhesives research and product development for over 30 years. Hartshorn has focused on adhesion, structural adhesives and adhesive bond durability, and is well known in industry through his presentations and publications, including two books, five review articles and 23 papers. Hartshorn has been an active member of industrial and academic advisory boards, and holds degrees from the University of Exeter, UK, and the University of London, UK. Following an extensive career at 3M, Hartshorn joined ChemQuest in 2003 and became a certified IFAM instructor in 2006.

The EAB course will be hosted at the ChemQuest Technology Institute in South Boston, Virginia, approximately 90 miles from Raleigh-Durham International Airport. CQTI has an ideal combination of classroom and laboratory settings in its state-of-the-art 12,000-square-foot facility to maximize practical and theoretical learning of adhesives bonding, with hands-on opportunities.

Students and recent graduates of college-level manufacturing technology programs that include advanced manufacturing and precision manufacturing, as well as industrial and mechanical engineers and designers, are encouraged to attend. Employees who independently bond materials in a manufacturing setting, or who otherwise use, specify, design with, or manufacture OEM and structural adhesives should attend. Technical, marketing and sales personnel employed within the adhesives value chain would benefit from attending, especially those who are new to their jobs. While there are no formal prerequisites for taking the EAB course, participants should be familiar with the course language and industry terminology.

Successful completion will result in a diploma recognized in Europe as DVS^®-EWF 3305 and EWF 515-01, with ANSI recognition pending in the United States.

More information on the EWF-European Adhesive Bonder (EAB) can be found here. Registration is now being accepted until the deadline of Dec. 19, 2017, using the EAB registration form. For more information on the European Adhesive Bonder Course, contact Lauren Tetterton, Director of Logistics, by phone at 434/570.1400, or by e-mail at ltetterton@chemquest.com.