Priyanka Sekar

Priyanka obtained her bachelor’s degree in rubber and plastic technology with a thesis on the developmental study of acrylic-based bone cement at Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, India. In 2018 she received her master’s degree in rubber technology from IIT, Kharagpur, India. Priyanka undertook her master’s thesis at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, on 'process-property study of melt-spun thermoplastic polyurethane fibers', through the DAAD-IIT master’s sandwich program. She subsequently joined the ETE, University of Twente as a PDEng trainee in 2018, working toward her PhD on 'understanding the reinforcement potential of hydrothermally treated lignin biofillers'.

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Presentation

Understanding the reinforcement behavior of silane-modified hydrothermally treated lignin

The use of hydrothermally treated (HTT) lignin as a rubber filler is a promising approach to improve the sustainability of elastomers. By applying the HTT process, renewable and abundantly available lignin feedstocks can be successfully converted to a reinforcing filler for rubber application with stable morphology, purity, enlarged functional surface and thermal stability. This study focuses on the effect of HTT lignin on the mechanical properties of rubber compounds in the presence of modifiers to open new opportunities for this bio-based reinforcing filler.