Spring 2010 Newsletter
Q&A with Rajesh Tiwari, Ph.D.
This issue’s featured expert is Dr. Rajesh Tiwari, Project Leader at Chemir. Rajesh has been with Chemir for 7 years, and is an expert in polymer and coatings analysis.
Q. What did you do before coming to Chemir?
A. I worked as a research scientist at AdTech Systems Research, where my work involved electrochemical surface pretreatment of aluminum alloy for adhesive bonding, fabrication ofadhesively bonded joints, and environmental exposure and testing of bonded joints. We utilized Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy as a tool to evaluate adhesively bonded joints. I also synthesized a Non-Linear Optical (NLO) polymer, LD3.
I received my Ph.D. from Virginia Tech, where, I investigated the influence of thermal treatment and the role of fluoride ions, present in the anodic oxide coatings, on the durability of adhesively bonded Ti-alloy joints. This was a high profile High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) plane project, which was jointly sponsored by NASA and Boeing.
Q. What do you like best about working at Chemir?
A. I get to work on challenging and interesting projects; most of the projects are non-routine and require multiple analytical methods to answer the customer’s query. I enjoy being surrounded by great scientific minds at Chemir. The work atmosphere is awesome here.
Q. What interesting developments have you noticed in the polymer industry recently?
A. This is a very difficult question to answer in few sentences. There have been tremendous progress made in many different fronts of polymer research such as the development of novel biodegradable polymers for biomedical applications, self assembling polymer and copolymers for microelectronic applications, conducting polymers for biosensors, medical prosthetics and battery applications, polymer adhesives for aerospace and construction applications to name a few. The self assembling polymer materials have a potential to produce patterns at nanometer level, which in the long run, when technology is perfected, will make the electronic devices much smaller and more powerful.
Q. What is your favorite polymer and why?
A. I do not have any favorite polymer. In general, I find polymers very interesting and useful materials. The various polymer material types have their own unique chemical structures and morphologies, which imparts them their characteristic physical and chemical properties. Because of their inherent complexity, the characterization of a polymer material is a big challenge, which I accept on a daily basis here in Chemir. The complete physical and chemical characterization of a polymer material may involve a host of analytical instruments such as FT-IR, NMR, GPC, DSC, TGA, GC/MS, HPLC, DMA, TMA, SEM/EDXA, melt flow indexer, viscometer, and a physical testing apparatus.
Q. What do you like to do for fun?
A. In my spare time, I like to watch Bollywood and Hollywood movies. I love the game of cricket and follow it regularly on the internet whenever possible. I also like gardening, however, I am having second thoughts of keeping it on my interest list in the future: Last year I had planted a few tomato plants, however, despite my very best effort (providing water and plant food religiously for four months) none of the plants produced fruits. I was very disappointed and did not plant tomatoes this year!
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