Polyolefins and Industry
Delivered by Dr Kathryn L Beers, the leader of the polymers and complex fluids group at the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), this seminar will explore the work of NIST in using polyolefins to develop new standard reference materials.
NIST sees a clear need for more advanced polymer structures beyond traditional linear chains for the charactersation of branch distributions, both in length of the branches and their distribution along the chain. The role of branching in non-linear polyolefins is critical in the tailoring of solution and bulk properties such as those found in a new generation of thermoplastic elastomers based on polyethylene copolymers.
To meet this demand, NIST is preparing near perfect short chain branched polymers and characterising their intrinsic viscosity for potential use as standard reference material, as well as to understand the role that these branches play in tailoring other properties such as crystallisation and phase separation. Coupled with a new modelling tool, ZENO, we are also learning more about the solvation effects of branching. We have used the same expertise to assist in identification protocols and to probe the effects of weathering on polypropylene ocean debris.
Kate Beers
Kate is Leader of the Polymers and Complex Fluids Group in the Materials Science and Engineering Division at NIST. The Group has projects spanning macromolecular characterisation, polyelectrolyte solutions and gels, carbon nanotube separations and emulsions and suspensions. She is currently on a one year assignment as a program developer for the Circular Economy at NIST, where she is engaging the campus in activities related to plastics recycling, new materials design, and environmental impacts of plastic waste.
Kate’s past research has included combinatorial and high throughput polymer synthesis, microfluidic flow reactors, copolymerisation kinetics, surface-grafted polymers, sustainable polymers, precision polyolefins and densely grafted ‘bottlebrush’ polymers and networks. She is a former Chair of the ACS Polymer Chemistry Division and spent a year in science policy as the Assistant Director for Physical Sciences and Engineering in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President.
She has been recognized with the President’s Early Career Award in Science and Engineering, the Arthur S. Flemming Award for public service and as a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.
Location
Room G205
Alan Turing Building
University of Manchester
M13 9PL
United Kingdom
