Tuesday, March 10, 2026
8:05 AM to 8:40 AM
• Sustainable Pharma Needs Better Plastic
8:40 AM to 9:15 AM
• Navigating the complexity of packaging regulation – how PLA biopolymer help finding solutions
9:15 AM to 9:45 AM
• Coffee Break
9:45 AM to 10:20
• Vitrimerization: Recycling Thermoset Waste via Dynamic Chemistry
10:20 AM to 10:55 AM
• Global Chemical Legislation Updates: Key Impacts to the Plastics Industry
10:55 AM to 11:30 AM
• From Molecules to Megatrends: How Materials Engineering, Sustainability, and AI Will Shape the Future of Plastics
11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
• Student Posters & Lunch
1:30 PM to 2:00 PM
• Chemical Industry Outlook
• Comparative Analysis of Nozzle Contact Pressure Concepts in Injection Molding
• Enhanced Wood Plastic Composites for Outdoor Decking Using Recycled Polyolefins and Styrenic Block Copolymer Modifiers
• From Waste to Worth : Leveraging Acrylic Technology to Engineer High-Performance Building Products with Increased Post Consumer Recycled Content
• How to use Thermal Analysis to Help Driving Polymer Sustainability
• Neural Network Modeling of Oxygen Barrier Properties in PET Nanocomposites for Packaging Applications
• Scratch and Mar Behavior of Thermoplastics at Elevated Temperatures
• Toward a Closed-Loop in Healthcare: The Case of Bio-Reactors Made from Polycarbonate Recyclate
2:00 PM to 2:30 PM
• 3D Printing of TPU Nanocomposites and Foams Containing Carbon Nanotube and Barium Titanate for Triboelectric Nanogenerator Application
• AI-Based Soft Sensor for Inline Viscosity Recording in Twin-Screw Extrusion of Polypropylene Compounds
• Comparison of FTIR Methods for Microplastic and Nanoplastic Characterization
• Legislative Developments Shaping a Model Circular Economy
• Reprocessed Thermoset Carbon Fibre Composites: Closing the Loop with Dynamic Covalent Epoxy Networks
• Repurposing of Fiber-Reinforced Thermoset Composites by Partial Solvolysis
• Research on the Foaming Cell Structure for Microcellular Co-foaming Injection Molding Process Combined with Gas Counter Pressure Control
• Toward Sentient Polymer Printers: AI-Driven Additive Manufacturing That Learns and Adapts
2:30 PM to 3:00 PM
• AI in Polymer Analysis: How to Improve Your Recyclate Quality
• Analytical Challenges and Regulatory Perspectives for Emerging Micropollutants in Wastewater: Microplastics, Pharmaceuticals and PFAS
• How Thermal Analysis, Raman Spectroscopy and Lab-Scale Film Extrusion Including Optical Film Quality Analysis Can Predict and Confirm Crystallinity and Product Quality In Polymers
• Medical Change-up: Thermoplastic Polyurethanes as Alternatives for PFAS
• Optimizing the Processing Conditions for Compounding Polyolefins and Solid Filler Particles in Twin Screw Extruders
• Remarkable Thermal Conductivity in Dielectric Polymer Matrix Composites Through Polymeric Crystal Templating
• Screw Design Effects on Degradation and Morphology in TPU and rTPU Foams
• Tunability of Pore Structures and Properties of Polyolefin Microporous Films Via Sequential Cold and Hot Stretching
3:00 PM to 3:15 PM
• Coffee Break
3:15 PM to 3:45 PM
• ChatETS: Reverse-Engineering Four Decades of Plastics Expertise into an AI-Powered Engineering Platform
• Chemical Compatibility of Polyethylene: Procedures and Pitfalls
• Continuous Compounding of TPE and Rubber on New Generation of Co-Rotating Twin Screw Extruders ZE BluePower
• Designing for polymer “biodegradability”—Environmental end-of-life considerations vs biomedical applications
• Effect of Carbon Nanotube Concentration on Resistive Heating of a 3D-Printed Shape Memory Nanocomposite
• Injection Molding of PLA with Spent Coffee Grounds (SCGs) as a Sustainable Nucleating Agent
• Mold Releasing and Pultrusion/Powder Coating Process in building and infrastructure applications
• Understanding the influence of antioxidants on the fragmentation of PET into microplastics
3:45 PM to 4:15 PM
• A New Class of Very Low Density Polyethylene via Intensified Processes and Emulsion Polymerization
• Combining Simulation and Small Angle Neutron Scattering
• Fiber Reorientation For An Enhanced Weld Line Strength In Injection Molding Parts
• From CAD to Camera: Accelerating Visual Quality Inspection with Synthetic Data
• Investigation of Sub-Melting Degradation and Crosslinking in PEKK
• Processing and Property Tuning of Crosslinked Butyl/PP-Cellulose Compounds for Automotive NVH Applications
• Rethinking Material Selection in Medical Plastics: Circularity, Biobased, and Alternatives to Fluoropolymers
• Smart Formulation Design For Foam Injection Molded Parts
4:15 PM to 4:45 PM
• AI-Optimized Date Palm Biorefinery: Achieving 65% Waste-to-Bioplastic Conversion Through Machine Learning Process Control
• An Experimental Assessment of Polymer Families and Fillers That Contribute to Viscosity Pressure Dependence in Injection Molding
• Enhancing Medical Smart Packaging with Natural pH Indicators in Biodegradable Polymers
• Enhancing Through-Plane Electrical Conductivity in Vinyl Ester Molding Compounds
• Kortrax Barrier Resin (BR) Additive for HDPE, PP Barrier Packaging
• Polystyrene Yellowing Caused by Fluorescent Bulb Exposures – A Reciprocity Study and Statistical Analysis
• Thermoplastic Composite Confinement for Concrete Strengthening via Heat-Induced Fusion Wrapping
• Twin-Screw Compounding & Process Optimization for Shear Sensitive Materials
4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
• UMass Lowell Alumni & Friends Meet-Up
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
• Offsite Reception at Pins X Pints
Click to view Wednesday, March 11, 2026 Agenda
