Reviewing Ways Forward for Frontier Materials Research
July 23, 2021 As the Olympic games begin in Tokyo amidst new normalcy, material scientists are enjoying their own virtual Olympiad for three days, starting today.
Kumaraguru College of Technology in Coimbatore, India, is holding a major virtual conference – “International Conference on Materials Research in Science and Engineering – from July 23-25. The conference has attracted participants from six countries including India, United States, Finland, United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The conference addresses important themes such as nanotechnology, soft and hard composites, protective textiles, cotton, hybrid materials, and more. About 275 papers are being presented during the three-day event, which is a celebration of science and engineering.
“The conference focuses on computational and experimental research on different subfields in materials science discipline such as textiles, composites and coatings, which find applications in varied sectors such as defense and aerospace,” stated Professor K. Sundararaj, Convenor of the congress.
Cotton quality characteristics like fiber elongation play an important role in the spinning performance and the quality of yarns, stated Professor Eric Hequet of Texas Tech University – one of the world’s leading cotton fiber quality experts – in a keynote lecture.
In the COVID-19 era, the importance of materials in countering the infection using face masks is highly important to people. In the inaugural function of the conference, this scribe highlighted the importance of materials science in making countries self-reliant, citing the example of how personal protective equipment saved lives and noting that this decade would see a revival in manufacturing and materials development, similar to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the later part of the 18th Century.
It is interesting to note that a new revolution seems to happen about every 25 years. For example, the medical revolution with the discovery of double helix structure of DNA in 1953, followed by PCR in 1985. The 1980’s and early 1990’s saw the beginning of an IT revolution that metamorphosed into a communication and digital revolution. This decade will see growth in sustainable products from new and novel fibers and developments in advanced manufacturing.
“Research is important not only to solve existing problems, but also to foresee what is needed and what is on the horizon,” stated Professor Sib Krishna Ghoshal of Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia. He emphasized that research on hybrid materials involving organic and inorganic materials is needed to understand the interaction of these materials and to develop advanced products that find applications enabling sustainability and improving health care.
Developments in nanofibers in the past two decades was presented by Professor Seeram Ramakrishna of the National University of Singapore.
Materials science will be a key research area, and new materials that help with building energy harvesters, health care products and infrastructure will boost the economies of nations. Reinforcing the importance of advanced and agile manufacturing, Professor D. Saravanan, Principal of Kumaraguru College of Technology, stated, “Quest for new materials has been there since the Stone Ages.”
Who would thought that an unassuming material – a face mask – would come to prominence and save so many lives? Countries now realize the importance of manufacturing and developing new and sustainable materials.
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
