Vitrimers and CANs as a recyclable alternative to traditional thermosets
One of the most environmental concerns our present civilization face is the elimination or recycling of thermosets. Although indispensable because of their outstanding mechanical and thermal characteristics, they lack degradability and, therefore, fill permanently landfills and constitute an enormous problem. To solve this issue, the inclusion of reversible groups in the network structure has been proposed. These materials received the name of covalent adaptable networks (CANs) or vitrimers. The talk will introduce attendees to this type of materials, characteristics and chemistry and their possible applications, apart from their recyclability.
Speaker
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Àngels Serra AlbetAnalytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Department, URVAngels Serra joined the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona in Tarragona in 1979 where she completed her thesis in the field of polymers, becoming full professor of Organic Chemistry at the URV in 2000. During these 43 years she has researched mainly in the field of thermosetting materials, having published around 240 articles in JCR journals and having attended numerous national and international conferences. She has supervised 17 doctoral theses and currently she is supervising 3, as well as numerous master’s theses, DEAs and undergraduate theses. She has made a lot of technological transfer with national and internatiomnal companies and she published 3 patents.
She is the coordinator of the FUNCMAT group formed by members of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry.
She was president and organizer of the Baekeland Congress, which is one of the most recognized in the field of thermoset materials, in Tarragona in 2019.
In 2017, she was awarded the Distinguished Professor of the URV.