e-Xstream's engineering services team leader, Thierry Malo was announced as the winner of the Best Paper Award by the peer-review committee for the SPE® Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) in the Virtual Prototyping & Testing of Composites technical session and received the highest average ratings by conference peer reviewers out of a field of 90 contenders. Thierry was lead author (along with Laurent Adam and Roger Assaker, also of e-Xstream engineering, and Tsukatada Matsumoto and Riccardo Giacomini from Toyota Motor Europe) on a paper entitled Multi-Scale Modeling of High Cycle Fatigue of Chopped and Continuous Fiber Composites. The paper introduces two micro-mechanically based composite fatigue models. It focuses on the high-cycle fatigue model implemented specifically for chopped-fiber-reinforced plastics and validated both on specimens and on an automotive oil-cooler bracket from Toyota Motor Europe. The bracket is molded from short-glass reinforced polyamide (PA, also called nylon) 6/6 resin. Through this case study, the presentation shows how the use of proper fatigue-modeling tools, developed specifically for composites, can increase the accuracy of simulation in the field of durability and pave the way for new simulation standards that help support the desired weight reductions of vehicle components. Thierry's colleague, Kurt Danielson, will accept a special plaque for excellence in technical writing on his behalf during the opening ceremony on September 11th and will present the paper in the Virtual Prototyping & Testing session on September 12 from 8:00-8:30 a.m. Event: SPE® Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE) Date: September 11-13, 2013 Location: The Diamond Banquet & Conference Center at the Suburban Collection Showplace, 46100 Grand River Avenue, Novi, MI 48374 (See link HERE.) Visit the e-Xstream engineering booth No#221! To schedule and appointment at the conference, please send an email to mira.toth@e-Xstream.com! If you have any questions, please contact us at info@e-Xstream.com or visit our website www.e-Xstream.com! About e-Xstream engineering Founded in 2003, e-Xstream engineering (www.e-Xstream.com) is a software and engineering services company 100% focused on the multi-scale modeling of composite materials and structures. The company helps customers, material suppliers, and material users across many industries reduce the cost and time needed to engineer innovative materials and products using Digimat, the nonlinear multi-scale material and structure-modeling platform. Since September 2012, e-Xstream engineering is a wholly owned subsidiary of MSC Software. The e-Xstream engineering corporate logo and Digimat logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of e-Xstream engineering SA. About Society of Plastic Engineers (SPE) Every day the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) helps people and companies in the plastics industry succeed by spreading knowledge, strengthening skills and promoting plastics. SPE’s counts a 20,000-member network of leading engineers, scientists and other plastics professionals, including technicians, salespeople, marketers, retailers and representatives from tertiary industries. The SPE Automotive and Composites Divisions jointly sponsor the annual Automotive Composites Conference & Exhibition (ACCE). This event is designed to educate and update automotive design and production engineers, sales personnel, and management from transportation OEMs and Tier suppliers about the benefits and expanding importance of thermoset and thermoplastic composites in passenger vehicles, light trucks, and other ground transportation applications. ACCE is the world's leading automotive composites forum. The event provides excellent networking opportunities and draws speakers, exhibitors, and attendees from the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. For more information about the SPE Automotive Composites Conference, visit the Automotive Division’s website at http://speautomotive.com/comp.htm. Press contact: Mira Toth mira.toth@e-xstream.com