News

iPolyCond Project Conducts Industrial Survey to Benchmark Knowledge and Awareness of Novel Conductive Polymers

3 September 2010

SHROPSHIRE, UK (3rd September 2010) – The EC-funded iPolyCond project has undertaken a detailed industrial survey to benchmark the level of knowledge and understanding of conductive polymers within the European plastics converting, material processing and manufacturing industries.

Based on the findings of this benchmarking survey, the iPolyCond project aims to develop a range of targeted and highly relevant training materials and resources.

These will benefit European plastics converters who wish to take full advantage of the potential of conductive plastic materials.

The project has identified a keen interest in conductive polymer composites amongst the European plastics processing and manufacturing industries, with all respondents indicating an interest in the manufacture and use of these materials.

However, approximately 75% of the respondents had no experience of working with carbon nanotubes, indicating an industry-wide need for educational resources on the practicalities of working with these materials.

Another key finding was that the majority of respondents had very little experience of electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Again, this may indicate a need for training focused on this particular topic.

Details of all the findings of the survey are described within the ‘Industrial Survey Results’ report which has been produced by the consortium and is freely available to download from the project website, visit www.ipolycond.org.

iPolyCond is managed by iSmithers, working with a consortium of ten partners from across Europe including the British Plastics Federation, AIMPLAS, TBA Electro Conductive Products Ltd., Betase, CRC-HAS, Promolding, Faperin, EuPC and VTT.

For more information on the iPolyCond project, please contact Suzanne Wilkinson, tel: +44 (0)1939 252435 or email: swilkinson@rapra.net.