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Keynote Speaker

      Florian Schattenmann
      The Dow Chemical Company
      Vice President - Performance Materials & Coatings R&D

      Tuesday, October 9, 2018
      9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
      Kentucky International Convention Center
      Ballroom A & B
      






Using Fundamental Polymer Science to Accelerate Elastomer Innovations 

The rapid pace of global growth demands unparalleled innovation. This mandate is critical for true progress on leading megatrends, such as globalization, urbanization, digitalization and sustainable development. It is also a significant driver shaping today’s material science capabilities. Recent advancements in high-throughput research, analytical sciences and material modeling have enriched our capabilities to apply fundamental polymer science to discover next-generation materials.  In particular elastomers research has experienced an acceleration of innovation. Three examples will highlight how such advancements have resulted in new elastomer technologies meeting increasingly more challenging customer and market requirements:

•    High-throughput catalyst research techniques enabled development of a new EPDM rubber that offers tailored molecular-design structures.

•    Enhanced analytical science regarding material optical properties resulted in unique moldable optical silicone elastomers for creating complex lighting designs that cannot be achieved with plastics or glass.

•    Advanced material modeling and application simulations demonstrated the relationship between elastomer seal performance and specific material properties to help accelerate the rubber part design process.