Advances in Thermoplastic Elastomers: Challenges and Opportunities

Nikhil K. Singha is Professor at the Rubber Technology Centre in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India. Prof. Singha received his PhD degree from IIT Bombay in 1996, while doing most of his research work in National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, India. He worked in multiple places in the Netherlands, including DSM Research at Geleen, Dutch Polymer Institute, Eindhoven University of Technology and TNO Industries at Eindhoven, before moving to IIT Kharagpur in 2003. He also worked as a DAAD Fellow in the Leibniz Institute for polymer research, Dresden, Germany in 2011 and as a Fulbright Fellow in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA in 2013. Prof. Singha was Chair of the Rubber Technology Centre during 2016-2019. His research interests include synthesis of tailor-made polymers, block, graft and star copolymers, thermoplastic elastomers, functional polymers and elastomers having dynamic linkages leading to self-healing, shape memory and bio-applications, and sustainable materials and processes.

Sadhan C. Jana is Professor at the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, United States. He is also Associate Dean forResearch and Graduate Studies, at the University of Akron. Prof. Jana received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1993and worked at GE Corporate Research, before joining the University of Akron in 1998. He served as Chair of the Department of Polymer Engineeringduring 2004–2011 and 2015–2019. Prof. Jana’s research interests include aerogels, nanofibers, tire tread materials, polymer nanocomposites, and shapememory polymers.