RadLaunch, Tech Accelerator Winners Present at 2018 Conference
The winners of RadLaunch 2018 – the new tech accelerator for UV/EB technology start-ups – presented their innovations at RadTech 2018 in early May in Chicago, Illinois. The innovations were featured both during the technical conference and on the exhibit floor in a dedicated RadLaunch Pavilion, sponsored by Heraeus Noblelight America.
The RadLaunch 2018 Class includes the following:
- Trio Labs: Rapid UV 3D printing creates metal and ceramic parts with the same characteristics achieved through standard powder injection molding (PIM) processes.
- Reboot Medical, Inc.: PhotoCast Casting Tape: light-cured composite tape hardens on demand, producing a rigid splint or cast.
- Team from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Nanocrystal photocatalysts fill a previously unmet need for efficient, water-soluble photoinitiators for coatings and 2D or 3D printing.
- moi composites: A patented process merges the performances of thermosetting composite materials with the potential of additive manufacturing.
- The Foam Printing Project: Lightweight parts emerge from resin that is foamed using a patent-pending process and solidified using a UV DLP 3D printer. Parts have up to 75 percent gas fractions and are lighter weight and less expensive to produce.
- Dynamic Matter LLC: UV-curable thermosetting polymer can be remolded, relax stress or be repurposed following polymerization for use in optical applications and composites to reduce shrinkage and environmental stresses.
- Team from the University of Iowa: Transferrable Shadow Cure (TSC) decouples initiation and propagation mechanisms in cationic photopolymerization to address light penetration problems, providing full cure regardless of geometry, pigment and filler content, and sensitivity of material to light and heat.
Hladik Earns 2018 President’s Award
Molly Hladik, technical project leader with Michelman, was honored with the RadTech President’s Award in February at the group’s annual meeting in Miami. RadTech presents the award each year to honor volunteer leadership and service. “Molly has offered tremendous leadership and support to our UV/EB community for several years,” said RadTech President Lisa Fine of Joules Angstrom. “She currently leads our printing & packaging and technical conference committees, serves on our editorial board and, until recently, served on our board of directors.”
Hladik also serves as an adjunct professor with the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), where she helped create the unique online Radiation Curing Program, offering graduate-level courses and certification in UV/EB technology. She received her doctorate in chemistry/polymer science from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Davenport to Join UV+EB Technology Editorial Board
Amelia Davenport, senior scientist at Colorado Photopolymer Solutions, Boulder, Colorado, has been named to the editorial board of UV+EB Technology. After receiving her degree in chemical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2013, she has since led various research and development projects for Colorado Photopolymer Solutions. Her work there has resulted in RadTech presentations and publications dealing with 3D printing and tack-free cure.
Bowman to Receive Tess Award from American Chemical Society
Christopher N. Bowman will receive the 2018 Roy W. Tess Award in Coatings in August at the 256th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington, D.C. The award is given annually by the organization’s Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering in recognition of outstanding contributions to coatings science, engineering and technology.
Bowman currently is the James and Catherine Patten endowed chair and a distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He has made contributions to both the fundamental understanding of the kinetics, mechanisms, structure and properties of photopolymer systems and the creative development of new coating applications for these polymeric materials. He has published more than 350 articles related to polymeric materials and has been awarded 25 patents.
Recent research examples include his work in highly reactive acrylate monomers, his fundamental characterization of thiol-ene reactions, experimental and theoretical analyses of both degradable network structures and those containing dynamic, exchangeable covalent bonds, and his groundbreaking research in biopolymer-base microfluidic systems.
In another major contribution to polymerization reaction engineering, Bowman was the first to exploit living radical photopolymerizations (LRPs) as a tool to better characterize network material properties, and the use of LRPs to create materials with unique properties not achievable by other polymerization techniques. He also has performed definitive studies on thiol-ene photopolymerization reactions. These reactions represent the only known step growth radical-mediated polymerization process, and he has successfully engineered these reactions to utilize this advantage in applications as diverse as dental materials, microdevices, polymer-derived ceramics, coatings and photolithographic materials.
In Memoriam: Wenfang Shi
Wenfang Shi, 73, professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and former president of RadTech China, died February 18, 2018, in Hefei, Anhui Province.
After completing her program at USTC in 1970, she studied at the Royal Institutes of Technology in Sweden, obtaining her doctorate in Polymer Chemistry in 1994 at the age of 49. She went on to study at Åbo University in Finland and at the Australian Ministry of Technology as a visiting scholar in exchange programs. As dean of USTC’s Department of Applied Chemistry and Polymer Science and Engineering, she actively recruited top talents. During her career, she trained 32 doctoral students and 12 master’s students, published nearly 200 academic papers and held a dozen domestic patents and one international patent as the first applicant. She was one of the key participants in inventing the first production line of UV crosslinking technology. She is survived by her husband, Baojun Qu, and her son, Xin Qu.
“Professor Shi had many friends at RadTech North America and tirelessly promoted a warm and productive relationship between the groups,” said Gary Cohen, executive director of RadTech North America International. “She ensured participation in mutual conferences, leading to strong ties that continue. Through her groundbreaking research and the training and mentorship of her students, Professor Shi leaves an important, lasting legacy with our technology community.”
RadTech Fall Meeting Set for October 22-23
RadTech’s 2018 Fall Meeting will be held at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, October 22 and 23. Exciting meetings and continuing new initiatives are planned in the UV LED, 3D Printing, Industrial Coatings, Application Support, Transportation and Printing & Packaging focus groups. For more information, visit www.radtech.org.
RadTech’s Loof Honored as Earth Day Hero
Rita Loof, director of environmental affairs for RadTech International North America, was one of six 2018 Earth Day Heroes honored by California Safe Schools (CSS), based in Toluca Lake, California. The awards were made in tribute to Earth Day 2018, which was on April 22.
“In honoring these phenomenal, committed individuals on Earth Day, we are acknowledging the hard work and collaboration that enables us to protect not only current generations, but future generations to come,” said Robina Suwol, founder and executive director of CSS. CSS noted that Loof, a resident of Upland, California, is celebrated for her efforts to reduce toxic emissions in the air and ensure a healthier planet for future generations. The organization also stated Loof’s efforts in bringing about legislation requiring Califonia schoolchildren with disabilities be equally protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act is “legendary.” For more information, visit www.calisafe.org.
