Ames TribuneWednesday November 26, 1997 Professorwins best paper award Joshua Otaigbe an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University won the Best Paper Award for a paper he presented to the International Society of Plastics Engineers. Otaigbe presented his paper Gas Atomization of Polymers,Eat the society's annual technology conference, ANTEC 1997, last spring. Otaigbe was notified in May that he won the Best Paper Award inthe Thermoplastic Materials and Foams Division. Jon McAvoy, Otaigbe's former graduate assistant, was co-author of the paper. The paper describes a new technology for making powders from plastic melts. The technology avoids the problems that occur when conventional methods, such as grinding are used to mass produce thepowders.EThe powders are used in spraycoatings and as raw materials for low-cost thermoplastic composites. Severalcompanies have expressed interest in further developing the technology. |