报告题目：The importance of the manufacturing route in polymer nanocomposite performance and in improving sustainability of plastics

报告人：Prof. Eileen Harkin-Jones   

英国皇家工程院院士

大英帝国勋章获得者

爱尔兰工程院院士

                英国阿尔斯特大学（University of Ulster）教授、博导

时间：2022年6月7日（星期二），下午16：00-18：00

腾讯会议：515-809-204

报告摘要:

Synthetic polymers form the basis of a huge number of products today from plastic packaging to complex medical devices and aerospace components. The great demand for plastic products is not surprising since it is lightweight compared to alternative materials, very easy to form into a final component and relatively low in cost. A key area of research is to improve the mechanical, barrier and electrical performance of plastics by incorporation of various fibrous and particulate reinforcing materials such as aramid fibres or carbon nanotubes. The growth of research into polymer nanocomposites in particular has been very impressive over the past 15 years and has facilitated the performance enhancement of numerous polymers by increasing their functionality to produce electrically conductive, high gas barrier, flame retardant and mechanically superior plastic materials.

A key advantage of nanofillers such as carbon nanotubes is that they can generally be used in conventional plastic manufacturing processes with little modification of the equipment. However, the influence of the manufacturing process on the structure and properties of the final nanocomposite part has not had as much research attention as it deserves. Each manufacturing process has its own deformational and thermal regimes which in turn influence the structure and properties of the final part. It is therefore very important to understand exactly how the process affects the nanocomposite structure and performance so that the desired properties can be achieved in the end product and to enable proper process control to ensure product consistency.  In the first part of this lecture the influence of the processing or manufacturing route on the structure and properties of the end product of some polymer nanocomposites is examined.

Although plastics are ubiquitous in our lives today, they have achieved an extremely poor reputation due to way in which they have been allowed to pollute our oceans and landscapes and to the overuse of single use plastics which hugely exacerbates the problem. There is an urgent need to reduce both the production of single use plastics and also to make existing manufacturing processes more sustainable. The second part of this lecture therefore looks at some ways in which to achieve waste reduction in the manufacture of plastic products.

报告人简介：

Eileen Harkin-Jones，英国阿尔斯特大学（University of Ulster）教授、博导，英国皇家工程院院士、大英帝国勋章获得者、爱尔兰工程院院士。Eileen于1983年获得都柏林大学学院（University College Dublin）一等荣誉学士学位，其后5年在高分子加工公司担任生产与技术经理，1988年开始在英国贝尔法斯特女王大学（Queen’s university Belfast）攻读博士学位。1993年成为英国贝尔法斯特女王大学讲师，并于1999年成为整个爱尔兰岛历史上首位工程领域的女性教授。2011年入选英国皇家工程院院士，2013年因其在高等教育领域的卓越贡献被授予大英帝国勋章，2017年入选爱尔兰工程院院士。Eileen的研究主要包括先进热塑性聚合物及复合材料的开发与加工，其应用领域从航空航天到医疗设备，重点是可持续性。她发表了200多篇论文，获得了累计超过1800万英镑的研究经费，并获得了2项英国杰出技术成果转化奖，共培养了40多名博士。

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