Vol. 27 No. 5
September-October 2005

Polymer-Based Materials

by Philippe Dubois

Approximately 300 scientists from 35 countries attended the first joint meeting of the 8th European Symposium on Polymer Blends and Eurofillers 2005, which was held in the historical city of Bruges, Belgium, from 9–12 May 2005. The meeting featured 16 plenary/keynote lectures, 44 oral communications, and more than 200 poster presentations.

“Materials Design, Performance, and Problem Solving” was the general theme of this meeting, organized by laboratories of four Belgian universities active in polymer-based materials. The chairing committee was composed of Philippe Dubois, University of Mons-Hainaut; Gabriel Groeninckx, Catholic University of Leuven; Robert Jérôme, University of Liège; and Roger Legras, Catholic University of Leuven, Louvain-la-Neuve.

The purpose of this international joint symposium was to stimulate dialogue between specialists in complementary fields, including physicists, chemists, and engineers, with expertise in both organic and inorganic materials. Congress topics included the following.

In the field of Polymer Blends:

• innovations in generation and control of phase morphology, including theoretical approach and numerical simulation
• reactive processing—reactive compatibilization, dynamic crosslinking, polymer chemistry in the melt
• interfaces and interphases—control, characterization, and modeling
• structure-mechanical performance relationships
• specific polymer blends (including recycling) and their applications

In the field of Fillers and Filled Polymers:

• preparation and characterization of (nano)fillers of all shapes and functions
• formulations of (nano)fillers with polymers: nanocomposites, natural fiber composites, organic-inorganic hybrid materials
• adhesion between (nano)fillers and polymers
• structure-property relationships of (nano) composites, including confined crystallization issues
• industrial applications of filled polymers in automotive, electronic, biomedical and packaging area

Based on the scientific success and interest of the meeting held in Bruges, both steering committees also agreed on the point that other joint meetings should be reorganized in the near future. It emerged from this first joint meeting that problems faced in “filled polymers” and “polymer blends” domains are most often very similar to each other and therefore should deserve attention and discussion from both scientific communities.

More information (detailed program, pictures of speakers, participants, exhibitors, poster sessions, and ceremony of best poster awards) can be found on the congress Web site at <www.polymerblends-eurofillers2005.com>.

The next meetings will be organized as follows:

• The 8th European Symposium on Polymer Blends, which will be held in Palermo, Italy, is being organized by Prof. F. La Mantia (most likely mid-September 2007).
• Eurofillers 2007, which will be held the last week of August 2007 in Budapest, Hungary, is being organized by Prof. B. Pukansky.

Philippe Dubois <[email protected]> is a professor and head of the Service des Matériaux Polymères et Composites at the University of Mons-Hainaut in Belgium.