Interested in Additional Education?  New to the Rubber Industry?  Check out the “Processing & Testing of Rubber” Course offered earlier in the day.  This course is FREE to Ohio Rubber Group Members.  Click here for more information.

This meeting is a joint technical meeting with ORG, ACS, and SPE!  Come ready to network with other technical societies.

Agenda:

4:00 – Dinner Ticket / Membership Sales

4:30 – Technical Presentations

6:00 – Social Hour

7:00 – Dinner

Advanced Reservations:  $35 each     ***Without prior reservation:  $40 each (limited number available)

Student tickets:  $10 each

Email reservations to Denise Kotz at denisekotz@strategicrealm.consulting OR mail to Ohio Rubber Group, PO Box 553, Hudson, OH 44236.

Pay in Advance is the Preferred Method for payment.  Avoid lines at the meeting!  Click here to pay in advance for dinner tickets.

**Please note that your receipt will be from ACESS (Akron Council of Engineering and Scientific Societies).  This is correct.

Technical Presentations:

“Basics of Short Fiber Reinforcement”

Vishal Chaurasia, Technical Director, Finite Fiber

This presentation provides a practical introduction to short fiber reinforcement in rubber compounds, including fiber selection, property enhancement, mixing considerations, and practical approaches to optimizing compound performance.

“3D Printing of Rubbers at The University of Akron”

Jae-Won Choi, Ph.D. Professor – Mechanical Engineering, The University of Akron

This talk presents the University of Akron’s research on additive manufacturing of rubber compounds via the direct-ink-write (DIW) process, covering a systematic progression from natural rubber latex and synthetic SBR-BR blends to fluoroelastomers and networked silica-reinforced inks. In addition, on-going research on various applications and new 3D printing platform will be introduced.

Entrepreneurs and the Search for Polymer Circularity

Gordon Schorr, CTO, PolyKinetix

We can all quote statistics on the volumes of end-of-life tires and plastic waste sent to landfills, amounts washing into our rivers and oceans, environmental risks from leached chemicals and microplastics and the limitations of historical practices of recycling. Mechanical recycling techniques address only the low-hanging fruit and the economic use of these materials is largely capped out. Chemical recycling offers new avenues and products from a wide variety of processes, often bringing their own process, economic and environmental issues. Legislation around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), tightening environmental controls and social media pressure is driving global investment to address specific sets of issues, each with a unique approach to achieving circularity.  While many successful innovations are solely internal products, the important role of the individual entrepreneur and a supportive community infrastructure provides, if not the final processes, then certainly the launch platform for adoption and investment. The critical mass of the trained chemists, physicists, engineers, academicians, and other professionals in our region makes us a unique place for innovation. Let’s take a snapshot of the issues, look at several of our local polymer related startups, and explore how we can work together and benefit from the NEO innovation ecosystem. 

***Please turn off cell phones during the presentations****