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POLYMERS & MATERIALS RESEARCH

General
Associated Center
Associated Faculty

Selected Research Profiles

• Can plastics be reincarnated in cheap new applications?
  
  Accompanying the advent of plastics, enthusiastically embraced by virtually every industrial sector for its durability and low cost, has been mounting concerns about safe disposal. Dr. Montgomery Shaw is seeking to solve this problem by developing novel applications for recycled plastics. An internationally recognized expert in polymer blends, microcellular foams, electrorheological fluids and polymer recycling, Dr. Shaw has been able to produce a variety of useful materials from what previously were incompatible plastics, including resilient, durable countertops for residential use. Dr. Shaw's work focuses not only on making it possible to recover recycled material cheaply, but also on economically processing them into new materials. One project involves processing of scrapped electrical wire to cleanly and cheaply separate the layers of plastic insulation from the embedded wire in order to recycle the plastic insulation that formerly was landfilled.
  
  
• Polymers offer versatile applications. . .