Daniel Walczyk is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and former Center Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Dr. Walczyk was a DAAD fellow at RWTH Aachen (Germany) in 1995 and received his PhD from MIT in 1995, MS from Rensselaer in 1991, and BS from Syracuse University in 1986. He also spent seven years in industry as a practicing engineer, primarily with GE, and became a registered professional engineer in NY State in 1994. Since starting his academic career in 1996, he has helped launch four start-up companies, received 11 issued patents with three pending, and worked with dozens of companies on R&D projects. His general area of research is new manufacturing processes, but most of his activity for the past 20 years has focused on advanced composite and biocomposite materials.
Natural Fibers, particularly hemp and flax, are proposed by many materials researchers as sustainable alternatives to glass and polymeric fibers for reinforcement in advanced composites. Interestingly, natural fibers have been used for millennia in structural applications and are just now experiencing a rediscovery. In this seminar, Dr. Walczyk will first provide context for the renewed interest in natural fiber-reinforced polymers (NFRP) by discussing: the constituent materials; their advantages and disadvantages compared to synthetic composites including mechanical properties; where they come from (farms); how they are processed; and current U.S. supply chain problems hindering their wider adoption. He will then talk about current research at Rensselaer that focuses on solving related process and supply chain problems, and demonstrating NFRP in practical applications.