SPE South Texas Section   The Extruder Newsletter

March 2018

The Society of Plastic Engineers

Table of Contents

Polyolefins Conference 2018

 

President’s Message

Steve King

Dear SPE-STX Members,

As many of you know we closed the 2018 Polyolefin Conference on February 26th – 28th with record attendance. Planning for the 2019 POC has already begun. The event would not have been possible without our volunteers. If you feel you can contribute to the 2019 POC please let us know and we will help you get connect with a committee. The SPE-STX Board would like to express our appreciation to everyone for their yearlong contribution and commitment to making this year’s event so successful.

You should also know this year’s POC also contributed significantly to our scholarship program. As members of SPE, please know your family members are eligible for our scholarship program so get those applications in.

It is with sad news we have had a couple of our most active members for SPE retire during the conference. Bill Diecks and Suzanne Biggs Diecks have hung up their SPE shield. Bill has supported SPE-STX tirelessly since September 1975 by organizing and serving on various committees. He was instrumental in the creation of the Polyolefin Conference. Suzanne contributed significantly through various functions such as event planning, management of the countless events, hosting numerous meetings in her home for the various committees and board meetings. She has served SPE since October 1994. We will long remember our friends.

Another longtime member, Donna Davis, was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame for her contribution to the industry. She not only served SPE-STX for many years. Please take a moment to congratulate her on this huge accomplishment.

I also want to remind you about our March Social Event which will be at King’s BierHaus and the subject will be extrusion procedures and trouble-shooting problems. In April we will hold the spring STX Student Support Golf Tournament. Let us know if you would like to help with these events. More information on these events can be found on our website at www.spe-stx.org.

Best regards,
Steve King



In The News



Bill Diecks  

Bill Diecks Given an Outstanding Achievement from SPE International

Dr. Raed Alzubi, President of SPE added to Bill Diecks' awards with a Lifetime Outstanding Achievement Award at Polyolefins Conference luncheon on Monday.

     
Donna Davis  

SPE Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Farrey, Congratulates Donna Davis

Farrey gives praise to Donna Davis at the Conference luncheon on Tuesday. Davis was president of SPE from 2003-2004 and will be inducted into The Plastics Academy Hall of Fame this May.

     

Next Breakfast Bunch Meeting

  When: April 3, 2018
Where: I-Hop, 6508 Washington Ave., 77077, 7:00 AM (map)
Breakfast Bunch Meetings - The first Tuesday of each month all year.

 

Technical Talk & Social at King's BierHaus

Thursday, March 29, 2018, 6-8 PM
King's BierHaus (Map)
2044 E.T.C Jester Blvd.
Houston, TX 77008
(281) 990-3042

TOPIC-Extrusion Process

Speaker information coming soon. Hear a technical talk while enjoying cuisine from Germany, Austria, and America.

Top that off with beer from the best beer house in Houston and you have a well-rounded evening including an opportunity to socialize and network.
(Finger-food and drink coupon included.)

Cost:

$25 SPE Members
$35 Non-Members
Questions: Dell Doyle at 940-636-1509

Deadline to register: March 27

Register today!

A Letter of Thanks

Jonathan Pozzi, Assistant Director of Development Texas A&M Engineerig, sent this letter of appreciation. These gifts to the universities are all made possible by the Polyolefins Conference and the member volunteers of SPE- South Texas Section.

maag

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2073302&trk=hb_side_g

Join the South Texas Section of the Society of Plastics Engineers on LinkedIn. Click on the above link and you will be directed to group page. LinkedIn serves as another communication tool for SPE-STX.

LinkedIn is a free web site for professional networking with over 300 million members in over 200 countries and territories.

LinkedIn enables discussions and networking between SPE-STX members and those related to the plastics industry. LinkedIn compliments the current SPE-STX web and membership to LinkedIn is free.

News Highlight
LinkedIn SPE-STX group currently has over 375 members as of 2014. To date, the tool has been used primarily to promote and discuss SPE-STX meetings.

Members are also notified of meetings from board members plus email blasts sent by SPE International.

As always, both the monthly newsletter and SPE-STX web site are the leading sources of information on SPE-STX activities.

 

Don’t miss our annual South Texas SPE Golf Outing

This year our annual golf outing will be on Monday, April 16, at the Willow Creek Golf Club in Spring.

Schedule

10:30 Registration
11:00 Lunch
12:00 Shotgun Start

Cost:

Foursome: $600 - Includes golf game, golf cart, range balls, deli Lunch, beverage for four peopleIndividual Golfer: $150 - Includes golf game, golf cart, range balls, deli Lunch, beverage carts and stations during play, open bar, buffet dinner, and door prizes.
$25 - Lunch or Dinner Only.

Register online

For more information contact Ryan Reese.

 

Plastics Information: Check It Out

Houston Public LibraryThe Houston Public Library on McKinney has resources on plastics and polymers. Check out their catalog at http://catalog.houstonlibrary.org. If you are not near the McKinney location, you can arrange to pick up your books at your local branch.

The Fondren Library at Rice University has the most complete collection of books on plastics and polymers. This is also a prime resource for patent and trademark information, as well as other US Government documents. You cannot check out books there unless you join Fondren Library [$50], but you can arrange for books to be sent to your library by inter-library loan. Use their catalog at http://library.rice.edu/.

The next best place to browse is at the MD Anderson Library at the University of Houston central campus. South Texas Section has donated many plastics books to this library. If you plan ahead, you can get a TexShare library card from a library where you are a member, which will allow you to check out books from any U of H library. Their catalog is at http://www.library.uh.edu/.

2018 Conference Scholarships

Each student received a $1,000 scholarship through the continued support and success of the Polyolefins Conference and the SPE South Texas Section members.

PMAD


Tom
Malinski (Texas A&M)


Kayode
Oluwabunmi (UNT)


SOUTH TEXAS


Tyler
Cooksey (University of Houston)


Timothy
Brown (Lamar University)


TPM&F and Flexible Packaging


Mariana
Ocampo (TSU)


Zhiyuan
Qian (TTU)


Zhaogui
Wang (Baylor University)

2018 Conference Poster Contest Winners

The four winning students were present at the awards luncheon. Each of them receive certificates and cash for their efforts.

$1,000 FIRST PLACE POSTER CONTEST WINNER


Allison Osmanson(University of North Houston)


$500 SECOND PLACE POSTER CONTEST WINNER


Ying-Hua Fu (Texas A&M)


$300 (TIE) THIRD PLACE POSTER CONTEST WINNER


Thomas Malinski (Texas A&M)


$300 (TIE) THIRD PLACE POSTER CONTEST WINNER


Marisa Snapp-Leo (Texas State University)

 

Investigating the use of fibrillar clays for reinforcement of polymer composites

David E. Cisneros-Rosado, Emilio F. Paz-Alpuche, and
Jorge A. Uribe-Calderon

Abstract

Surface modifications to palygorskite promote its dispersion within nylon 6, which in turn improves the thermal and mechanical properties of the resultant nanocomposites.

Read more.

 


South Texas SPE 2017-2018 Board Meeting

Meeting Minutes
February 5, 2018

Minutes were approved.

 

Program Calendar

Date
Event Title
Event Specifics
Topic
Location
Time
March 29 Technical Talk & Social Social Extrusion procedures and trouble-shooting problems King's BierHaus 6-8 pm
April 16 Annual Golf Outing Social Fundraiser Willow Creek Golf Club Registration: 10:30am

Section Officers

President
Steve King
Solvay
(713) 598-2327
Steve.King@Solvay.com

President Elect
Dell Doyle
Dow Chemical
(940) 636-1509
Condelldoyle@yahoo.com

Kevin Alexander
KWA-Tech, Inc.
(281) 701-7792
Kevin@kwatech.com

Vice President
Iman Bahrani
Omya, Inc.
(281) 802-5392
iman.bahrani@omya.com

Secretary Ryan Reese
Dover Chemical
(330) 343-7711
rreese@doverchem.com

Treasurer
Peter Lauzon
Peal Processing
(832) 486-3418
pete@pealprocessing.com

Committee Chairpersons

Awards Committee Chair – Kevin Alexander
KWA-Tech, Inc.
(281) 701-7792
Kevin@kwatech.com

Golf Outing – Ryan Reese
Dover Chemical
(330) 343-7711
rreese@doverchem.com

Education Committee Chair – David Hansen
SBC Consulting
(281) 346-0143
david.hansen47@yahoo.com

Housing – Ryan Reese
Dover Chemical
(330) 343-7711
rreese@doverchem.com

Membership Committe Co-Chairs
Chuck Crosby
Braskem Americas
(713) 469-2394
Charles.crosby@braskem.com
Tom Walsh
Walsh Consulting Services
(281) 493-2344
t.s.walsh@earthlink.net

Newsletter –Iman Bahrani
Omya, Inc.
(713) 681-5217
iman.bahrani@omya.com

Technical Program – Dell Doyle
Dow Chemical
(940) 636-1509
Condelldoyle@yahoo.com

Young Professional Chair

Polyolefins 2017 Chair – Robert C. Portnoy
Portnoy Technical Services LLC
(713) 829-8799
rportnoy@portnoytechnicalservices.com

Board Members

Steve King
Solvay
(713) 598-2327
Steve.King@Solvay.com

Kevin Alexander
KWA-Tech, Inc.
(281) 701-7792
Kevin@kwatech.com

Iman Bahrani
Omya, Inc.
(713) 681-5217
iman.bahrani@omya.com

Bill Diecks
Retired
281-381-1264;
bill.diecks@comcast.net

Terry Vermaas
Kisuma Americas, Inc.
(832) 460-5133
tvermaas.aic@swbell.net

David Hansen
SBC Consulting
(281) 346-0143
david.hansen47@yahoo.com

David Grice
C&K Plastics
(281) 352-6761
dgrice@candkplastics.com

Dell Doyle
Dow Chemical
(940) 636-1509
Condelldoyle@yahoo.com

Tom Walsh
Walsh Consulting Services, Inc.
(281) 493-2344
t.s.walsh@earthlink.net

Peter Lauzon
Peal Processing
(832) 486-3418
pete@pealprocessing.com

Web Content/Section Coordinator

Janell Helton
Houston, TX 77084
713-503-6729
jdhelton@comcast.net