Guest Editors
Mohammadreza Nofar, Associate Professor, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Prof. M. Reza Nofar is an Associate Professor at the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey. He obtained his BSc in Materials Science and Engineering from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran-Iran) in 2005 and received his MSc and PhD from Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) and University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada), respectively, in 2008 and 2013 both in Mechanical Engineering.
Prof. Reza Nofar has been the recipient of several international and institutional awards and scholarships. Recently, he was awarded the PPS 2020 Early Career Award by the International Polymer Processing Society (PPS). He was awarded Turkey’s 2017 Young Scientist Award for his achievements in advanced biopolymeric microcellular systems. He was awarded Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT) in 2015 from the Quebec government for his postdoctoral studies. He had also been awarded three prestigious scholarships for his doctoral program, namely Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) - Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship, Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT), and Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology.
Dr. Nofar’s research interests are polymer processing and rheology, biopolymers and polylactide, polymer blends and nanocomposites, and microcellular polymer foams. Dr. Nofar has contributed his research output as one authored book entitled “Polylactide Foams: Fundamentals, Manufacturing, and Applications” that was published by Elsevier, 3 book chapters, 3 patents, and over 60 refereed journal articles, 4 of which are comprehensive review articles on PLA foaming, PLA blends, Rheology of PLA-based systems, and PLA cellulose nanocomposites.
Summary
Poly (lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA) is a well-developed commercial biobased, biodegradable, biocompatible, compostable and non-toxic biopolymer that has competitive material and processing costs and desirable mechanical and physical properties. This biopolymer can highly be considered as a promising substitute for petroleum-based polymers in a wide range of commodity and engineering applications such as film and packaging, textile and fiber, construction and automotive industries. It could also be widely used in biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, scaffolding, drug delivery, blood vessels, and biosensors. Advanced manufacturing and the development of multifunctional PLA based systems has also been of great interest of the researchers to introduce smart and light weight functional structures. With the high potential of using PLA in wide range of applications, the development of PLA based biopolymeric systems for commodity, engineering, and biomedical applications is essential by solving its series of drawbacks which limit its production and usage. The overall goal of this special issue is to collect recent outstanding works in the field. Potential topics of interest for this SI include but not limited to the following:
• PLA based systems with focus on commodity applications
• Biodegradation behavior of PLA based compounds
• PLA based multiphase blends and composites
• Multifunctional PLA based structures
• Cellular and microcellular PLA based foams
• Enhancements in rheological properties and processing ability of PLA based compounds
• Crystallization and thermal analysis of PLA based products
• Stereocomplex crystallization in PLA with enhanced properties
• Advanced manufacturing of PLA based structures
• Fiber spinning and electrospinning of PLA based systems
• PLA based smart materials and biosensors
• PLA based biopolymers for biomedical applications
Keywords
Poly (lactic acid), polylactide, PLA, biobased, biodegradable, biopolymer
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