Tag: rubber technology

Agenda for the future

Natural biopolymers made from silk, chitosan, collagen, gelan gum are now not only used to make scaffolds for tissue engineering, but they can also be used to create a “3D cell culture microenviroment” to investigate the proliferation and migration of cancer cells. The information was given to the audience by Dr Subhas C. Kundu of the University of Minho, Portugal at the International Conference on Advances in Polymer Science and Rubber Technology (APSRT) at IIT Kharagpur held from September 24-27. At another session at the same conference, Prof. Sanjib K. Patra of the Department of Chemistry of IIT Kharagpur explained how a new class of polymers developed by his department could be used to develop cheap and efficient chemical sensors for detecting explosives such as nitroaromatics (NACs).

Inauguration of the International Conference on APSRT

From the use of polymers in life science, to the development of smart materials and composites, novel synthesis and modification process of elastomers to green and sustainable processes and technology for the rubber industry, everything was discussed under the sun at APSRT that saw 250+ delegates from 10 countries, 4 plenary lectures and a cumulative 130 lectures and presentations.

From conventional applications in the field of automobiles, construction, commodity materials and engineering, polymer and rubber materials are finding smart applications in different critical and strategic areas such as defence, microelectronics and the life sciences.

Keeping with the needs, researchers have been developing polymer based composite materials that have unique self-healing and shape-memory properties. But to explore new possibilities, new products and technology, collaboration between industry and research institutions is necessary. In keeping with this objective, APSRT brought together distinguished scientists, faculty members and technologists from the academia and industry the world over.

Prof. Tony McNally of WMG delivering his plenary lecture

“The main objective of this conference is to bring the scientists and technologists working in polymer science and rubber technology under one umbrella to discuss recent advances and innovative technologies…They will discuss the future trends towards 2030,” said Prof. Nikhil K. Singha, Head of the Rubber Technology Centre, which organized the conference.

Sustainability was a predominant issue at the conference, with the speakers not only emphasizing on sustainable technology but also the circular economy within which polymer science and the rubber industry had to root itself. The circular economy approach in fact was driving innovation within the broad sustainability framework, that is through waste prevention, re-use, repair, remanufacture and recycling. Attention was directed at the making of automotive tires from dandelion, the use of biobased products like wood scraps being as substitutes for rubber additive. Sufficient attention was also drawn to recycling technology of not only rubber but also PET bottles, and the use of polymeric materials as sustainable solutions for various applications like architectural coatings, protecting coatings, refrigerants and fire suppressing agents. Prof. Sadhan K. De, retired professor of IIT Kharagpur, who was the Guest of Honor at the inaugural session, stressed on the effective utilization, recycle and reuse of plastics.

Participants at the poster exhibition

An overwhelming number of lectures brought home the novel ways in which polymers are being used for biomedical applications. Attention was drawn to how niche products like fluoropolymers can be used to fabricate nanoengineered 3D printed anatomical models for surgical planning and clinical training, nanogels can be used to target and kill cancer cells preferentially, how hydrogels are already being used to produce polyurethane wound dressings capable of indicating infection, how resilin and silk-based hybrid biomaterials can be used to produce hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering or how molecules are being developed for long term drug release by controlling hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance of the superstructure of molecules that are designed through urethane linkages and other myriad innovations.

Tea break at the conference

The development of new and smart materials drew as much attention. Take the synthesis of PEEK (polyether ether ketone) polymer and its composites that are already being used in aircraft, Dielectric elastomers that can be used in actuators, sensors or artificial muscle, Nanocomposites with periodic arrangement of nanoparticles that can be used in photonic devices and sensors, or the composite polymer material that can immobilize and catalytically degrade nerve agents.

Novel polymerization techniques and the functionality of polymers were also discussed. Some like Dr Huiqi Zhang of Nankai University, China, suggested controlled radical precipitation polymerization. Others suggested the use of ultrasound or ultrasonic polymerization to synthesize polymer nanoparticles or new ways to do RAFT polymerization, design and synthesis of step-growth polymers, or electrospinning to engineer biomaterials for biomedical research. Prof. Anton Klok of EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), Switzerland, spoke about the bio-application of polymers.

Yoshikuni Teramoto from Kyoto University, Japan

“I am confident that the delegates participating in the Conference will make significant contributions for the development of science and technology and the deliberations by the peer in the field will enthuse the budding scientists to find new directions for further research culminating in sustainable development of rubber science and technology,” said Prof. Sriman Kumar Bhattacharyya, Director, IIT Kharagpur during his inaugural address.

The Chief Guest for the occasion was Prof. Tony McNally of WMG, who also delivered a plenary lecture at the conference. He mentioned that rubber and polymer composites have been one of the main focus of WMG and there are lots opportunity of collaboration in this field with IIT Kharagpur. The American Chemical Society has been associated with the conference and interacted with authors and young scientists on the last day of the conference.

Going forward

Professor Tony McNally, Director- International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing; Director-National Polymer Processing Centre of WMG, was the Chief Guest at the International Conference on Advances in Polymer Science and Technology (APSRT) being held at IIT Kharagpur between September 24-27 by the Rubber Technology Centre of the Institute. He spoke to KGP Chronicle on the legacy of Lord Bhattacharyya and WMG’s long relationship with IIT Kharagpur.

On Lord Bhattacharyya and WMG:

Lord Bhattacharyya with Margaret Thatcher (Courtesy: WMG website)

Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya was the Founder of the WMG in 1980 at a time when British industry was in dire straits and needed help. He was a man before his time. He was a visionary. He had the idea of merging academic excellence with industrial relevance so that the results of academic research could be translated quickly and, more importantly, industries could get the help of universities quickly. He had this idea at a time when many were not interested. So he approached the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick. Lord Bhattacharyya, along with a secretary, started WMG and here we are 40 years later with 10 buildings, tens and millions of pounds in turnover, 300 PhD students, 300 post-doctoral researchers and about 2000 staff and internationally focussed units.

Over the decades, Lord Bhattacharyya built relations with industrial partners and leading companies. Most of the early successes were with Indian industry – Tata Motors for example. He was great friend of Ratan Tata and following from that success he started working with companies like TVS in India. But the key contribution he made in UK was that he brokered the purchase of Jaguar Land Rover by the Tata group, thereby creating thousands of jobs in the UK that are in existence today because of Lord Bhattacharyya’s contribution. That is a tremendous legacy to leave.

Eventually, Lord Bhattacharyya’s services came to be of great demand by other industries,other universities around the world and particularly by other governments. He ended up being advisor to many governments – South Africa for instance- over many years. The model that he adopted is being discussed in great detail by other countries, such as in Australia, which is looking very closely at this model of co-location of industry with an university department.

Pix courtesy WMG website

The other major contribution of Lord Bhattacharyya was in teaching, particularly teaching for industry. He set up many courses related to the needs of industry – supply chain, logistics, manufacturing systems engineering, engineering management and so on. As a consequence, today there are 13-14 different executive courses run by WMG which are very popular. The other model he introduced was designing bespoke engineering programs for companies. There are many people who work in companies who have not been able to go to universities for some reason. What he used to do is design programs from the scratch so that employees could attend university – one week per month they would study at the university and the other weeks of the month be with the company. This proved to be very popular. WMG has implemented this model while working with Jaguar, with Tyson Technology.

Overall, the contribution is immense in terms of the opportunities he gave people, like myself, also the model which is now being adopted across the world on how to transfer research to industry, how to train industry or transfer skillset that the industry really needs..

On WMG’s collaboration with IIT Kharagpur:

Prof. McNally at the International Conference on APSRT, where he was Chief Guest at the inauguration function

Lord Bhattacharyya was very proud of being an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur. I joined WMG six years ago, and since then have been witness to an integrated system of PhD programs, Masters and UG programs. Then there is also the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) link with IITs, especially IIT Kharagpur, and there is a drive for collaboration to focus on global challenges like clean water, energy, sustainability, recycling and electrification of transport. And this is an area that IIT Kharagpur, WMG and Tata Group, especially Tata Motors are very much focussed on. As I speak, there is a delegation from IIT Kharagpur at WMG looking at the battery facility.

So the plan on electrification of vehicles is already moving and the reason why I accepted the invitation to come to the International conference on Polymer Science and Rubber Technology is that we wanted to do exactly the same kind of research with new materials, polymers and rubber technology, functionality, and intelligent materials. The Rubber Technology Centre at IIT Kharagpur is globally famous, long established, with its alumni spread all over the world, occupying top positions in universities and industry. Unfortunately, UK has not invested greatly in rubber technology in universities, so it makes sense to collaborate with the best.

Prof. McNally delivered his plenary lecture at the APSRT conference on ‘Composites of Functionalized 1D/2D Nanomaterials and Polymers

WMG also has collaboration with IIT Kharagpur in autonomous vehicles. WMG is working on driverless cars and driverless transport. WMG is also an international partner of IIT Kharagpur’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing. Also, we have students of IIT Kharagpur come over WMG for internships and Masters. This has been historically in the case of Metallurgy but now we are looking at Joint PhDs as well.

On carrying forward Lord Bhattacharyya’s legacy:

Lord Bhattacharyya’s shoes are very difficult to fill because he was unique. It would be a silly thing to even try to do that. We will carry on as usual. But there is, I believe, a vast influence missing. As a university we will try to get another person of similar standing who had influence in the government, around the world, and in industry and try to possibly continue with the legacy. The groundwork is set and the foundations are strong. Lord Bhattacharyya used to meet professors every month and his favourite phrase during that time was ‘consolidate’. Nobody could stand still and his directive was “go, go”, “build, build”. If you hear that once a month it becomes instilled in you. So that mentality is there. In that sense, we will continue to build on the foundations. But we need someone as influential as Lord Bhattacharyaa so that we can have that kind of presence globally.

Banner and Pics of Prof. McNally: Suman Sutradhar