Kay Youngdahl Blohowiak, PhD

Senior Technical Fellow
Boeing Research & Technology

Kay Blohowiak is a Senior Technical Fellow in Materials Chemistry within Boeing Research & Technology.

Her work has focused on chemical technologies, surface preparation methods, adhesives and adhesion, coatings, and system-level multidiscipline solutions. Her innovations have resulted in new materials and methods that have improved product performance and durability while simplifying manufacturing and repair methods, as well as improving safety and our environmental footprint. She currently is championing new energetic surface preparation methods, such as lasers and atmospheric plasmas, to provide safe and efficient cleaning and activation of composite and metallic surfaces and to eliminate ergonomically difficult sanding processes and reduce hazardous chemicals. She is also working the complex issues surrounding maturing new additive technologies and implementing them into aerospace applications.

Since joining Boeing in 1989, Dr. Blohowiak’s innovations in interfaces and sol-gel chemistries have benefitted Boeing commercial, defense and space products. Her work has been leveraged in multiple structural adhesive bonding areas for production and repair, including sweeping changes to metal bonding for aluminum, titanium, stainless, and nickel structures.

Kay and her team have won several awards for these creative inventions and breakthrough implementations. For example, Kay has developed environmentally-friendly alternatives to traditional conversion coatings, significantly improving paint adhesion performance and reducing warranty claims and rework across the worldwide commercial fleet. This new cost-effective technology also yields an annual savings of over 400,000 gallons of hazardous waste in Boeing’s single- and twin-aisle paint hangars.

Kay has over 60 patents and 90 publications in areas ranging from adhesive bonding, finishes and corrosion control, to inorganic polymers, superconductors, advanced coatings development, and lean and efficient processing.

Blohowiak obtained her BS in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Texas A&M University, and was a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Washington, Materials Science and Engineering Department.