Researchers from NIMTE attended the ANTEC Conference on May 2-4, 2011 in USA. ,The ANTEC Conference organized by SPE was held in Boston. More than 2000 people from companies, universities and institutes participated in this important event. Dr. Nitin Apte (general manager of SABIC) and Dr. Howard Rappaport (Researcher of Chemical Market Assocites, Inc.) were invited as plenary speakers to present the topics of “Innovations in Engineering Thermoplastics – SABIC’s Approach to New Materials and New Applications” and “Industry Dynamics Impacting the Resin Supply Chain”, respectively. This event included three “New Technology Forums” with the purpose to introduce the usage of polymer resins in solar cell, health applications, and anti-microbial technologies. Thirty-seven technical sessions took place continuously in three days.

Researchers of NIMTE, Dr. Jin Zhu and Dr. Wentao Zhai, were invited by the technical program committees to report their progresses in heat resistant PLA, microcellular foaming of PLA, the crystallization kinetics of PLA under high pressure and PLA bead foam molding technology. The presentation about heat resistant PLA reported by Dr. Jin Zhu attracted the researchers’ attention. They asked for the details about the reasons why PLA could possess high heat resistant, while kept the characteristic of good clarity. The presentations about PLA crystallization, foaming, and molding technology also provoked much interests. All the presentations well demonstrated the strength of research on polymer sciences at NIMTE, and also brought the attention of the world plastics society to NIMTE.

On May 3, more than sixty Chinese researchers was gathering in  Boston.  Dr. Jin Zhu and Dr. Wentao Zhai introduced the development principle, brain gain policy, current research achievements of NIMTE, and welcome young scientists to join us.  Meanwhile, they warmly invited  international peers  to visit NIMTE at their convenient time..(Zhai Wentao Reports)