题  目：Challenges in Nanocomposites: Mixing Obstacles and Opportunities
报告人：Professor Ica Manas-Zloczower, Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
时  间：5月23日(周五)，上午10：00
地  点：化学A楼518会议室
邀请人：张勇（化学化工学院）

报告摘要:
Nanofillers have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their remarkable mechanical, thermal and electrical properties, rendering them as ideal fillers for advanced polymer composites. However, due to strong interparticle interactions, individual nanofillers tend to form micrometer-size bundles which entangle and condense into larger agglomerates with inferior properties. Difficulties in uniformly dispersing nanofillers have resulted in sub-par material properties as compared with what could theoretically be achieved for well-dispersed systems. In other words, the material properties of nanocomposites are controlled by the state of nanofiller dispersion in the polymer matrix and nanofiller/polymer interfacial interactions. Evaluating different methods to characterize the state of filler dispersion at different length scales enables us to look at the potential of applying mixing fundamentals to tailor properties in advanced materials.

报告人简介：
Ica Manas-Zloczower is the Thomas W. and Nancy P. Seitz Professor of Advanced Materials and Energy in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. She received BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute Jassy, Romania and a Doctor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota.
Professor Manas-Zloczower is the recipient of the 2012 George S. Whitby Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research awarded by American Chemical Society Rubber Division. She was elected and served as the President of the International Polymer Processing Society in 2011-2013. She is also a fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers and was elected to the Board of Directors of Extrusion Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers in May 2000. Professor Manas-Zloczower’s current research interests include modeling of mechanical properties for nanocomposite materials, high internal phase emulsions, structure and micromechanics of fine particle clusters, interfacial engineering strategies for advanced materials processing, dispersive mixing mechanisms and modeling, design and mixing optimization studies for polymer processing equipment.
She has more than 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals, more than 90 published conference proceedings, and a number of book chapters.She is the editor of the 2009 book “Mixing and Compounding of Polymers” published by Hanser.