Advanced Polymeric Materials : Synthesis and Applications

Recent advances in polymer research has led to the generation of high quality materials for various applications in day to day life. The synthesis of new functional monomers has shown strong potential in generating novel polymer materials, with improved properties.

Advanced Polymeric Materials includes fundamentals and numerous examples of polymer blend preparation and characterizations. Developments in blends, polymer nanocomposites and its various characterization techniques are highlighted in the book.

Didier Rouxel was born in Lyon, France, on March 5, 1965. He received an Engineer degree (five-year degree) in materials in 1989 from the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences et Techniques de l'Ingénieur de Nancy, Vandoeuvre, France. He received his Ph.D. in Material Sciences and Engineering from the University of Nancy I, France in 1993. He is now full professor in the Université de Lorraine and he leads the team Micro and Nano Systems in Institut Jean Lamour in Nancy, France. His research has been mainly focused on physical chemistry of surfaces and thin films, piezoelectric materials, elastic properties of materials studied by Brillouin spectroscopy, and development of micro-devices based on polymer-nanoparticles nanocomposite materials, in particular for biomedical applications. He was expert for the French agency ANSES for the topic "Nanomaterials and Health" and Member of the Year of the French Society of Nanomedicine in 2014.

Professor Sabu Thomas is the Director of the International and Interuniversity Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and full professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the School of Chemical Sciences of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He is an outstanding leader with sustained international acclaims for his work in Polymer Science and Engineering, Polymer Nanocomposites, Elastomers, Polymer Blends, Interpenetrating Polymer Networks, Polymer Membranes, Green Composites and Nanocomposites, Nanomedicine and Green Nanotechnology. Dr. Thomas's ground breaking inventions in polymer nanocomposites, polymer blends, green nano technological and nano-biomedical sciences, have made transformative differences in the development of new materials for automotive, space, housing and biomedical fields. Professor Thomas has received a number of national and international awards which including, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London, MRSI medal, Nano Tech Medal, CRSI medal, Distinguished Faculty Award, and Sukumar Maithy Award for the best polymer researcher in the country. He is in the list of most productive researchers in India and holds a position of No. 5. Thomas has been conferred Honoris Causa (D.Sc) by the University of South Brittany, Lorient, France in 2015 and in May 2016 he was awarded Loyalty Award in "International Materials Technology Conference Exhibition. Professor Thomas has published over 700 peer reviewed research papers, reviews and book chapters. He has co-edited nearly 58 books and is the inventor of 5 patents. He has supervised 79 Ph.D. theses and his H index is 78 with nearly 27184 citations. Prof. Thomas has delivered over 300 Plenary/Inaugural and Invited lectures in national/international meetings over 30 countries. He has established a state of the art laboratory at Mahatma Gandhi University in the area of Polymer Science and Engineering and Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

Nandakumar Kalarikkal, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Physics at the School of Pure and Applied Physics, as well as the Director of the International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, India. Dr. Kalarikkal's research group focuses on the specialized areas of nanomultiferroics, nanosemicondustors and nanophosphors, nanocomposites, nanoferroelectrics, nanoferrites, nanomedicine, nanosenors, ion beam radiation effects and phase transitions etc. The research group has extensive exchange programs with different industries and various research and academic institutions all over world and is performing world-class collaborative research in various fields. The Dr. Nandakumar Kalarikkal Centre is equipped with various sophisticated instruments and has established state-of-art experimental facilities that cater to the needs of researchers within the country and abroad. He has more than 100 International publications He has received several award and also edited several books with colleagues.