Polychar 26 World Forum on Advanced Materials

Tbilisi, Georgia, September 10-13, 2018

With a great pleasure we would like to invite you to Georgia for the next Polychar meeting in 2018. The 26th Annual World Forum on Advanced Materials will take place from Monday, September 10, until Thursday, September 13 at the Ivane Javakhishvili University in Tbilisi.

Polychar is a series of annual conferences which were originally limited to polymer characterization (hence the abbreviation in the name) but which are now the most worldwide conference series on advanced materials. The conferences up to Polychar 11 were held in the USA, # 12 in Portugal, # 13 in Singapore, # 14 in Japan, # 15 in Brazil, # 16 in India, # 17 in France, # 18 in Germany, # 19 in Nepal, # 20 in Croatia, # 21 in South Korea, # 22 in South Africa, # 23 in USA, # 24 in Poland and # 25 in Malaysia. At least 30 countries are represented each year. For reports from past conferences see

https://polychar.unt.edu.

From the very beginning, one of the important aims of our Forum is providing young scientists and engineers an opportunity to present their results and to meet with accomplished scientists from all over the world. Prizes include those for Students and for Young Scientists (up to 32 years of age). Some of the winners of those prizes from earlier years are now getting into distinguished positions of responsibility.

Our Forum brings together professors, graduate and undergraduate students – as well as people from industry - involved in theory, experiment and computer simulations under one roof to improve our understanding of connections between structures, interactions, processing and properties in Materials Science and Engineering. This is a long-term activity, not dependent on temporary fashions. An abstract template is attached; please indicate oral or poster. A presenter can present at most one oral paper, the other as posters. Students and young researchers have ‘equal rights’ to oral presentations. Participants who come to listen only are welcome as well.

The following areas will be important this year:

Predictive Methods and Simulations
Structure-Property Relationships
Surfaces, Interfaces, Adhesion and Tribology
Material Synthesis and its Molecular Characterization
Rheology and Processing
Mechanical Properties and Performance
Electrical and Dielectric Properties
Nanomaterials and Smart Materials
Biomaterials, Green Materials and Composites
Materials for Energy and Recycling

By tradition, the first day Monday there will be a Course of Polymer Characterization starting at 9 AM with the following Program (plus coffee breaks and a lunch break):

Victor M. Castaño: Viscoelastic behavior of polymers
Tomasz W. Liskiewicz: Friction, scratch resistance and wear
Sven Henning: Micromechanics by electron microscopy
Masaru Matsuo: Electric and dielectric properties of polymer-functional filler composites
Allison T. Osmanson: Flexibility in relation to other properties of polymers
Witold Brostow: Thermodynamic properties of polymers
Tomasz Sterzynski: Macromolecular orientation in polymers
Dusan Berek: Polymer liquid chromatography

We shall have a small number of invited lectures, alphabetically:

Marcus Vinicius Lia Fook, Federal University of Campina Grande
Ondrej Kylian, Charles University, Prague
Marino Lavorgna, Institute of Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, Portici
Rimantas Levinskas, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Kaunas
Lola Olantunji, University of Lagos
Jean-Marie Raquez, University of Mons
Sabu Thomas, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala
Sujitra Wongkasemjit, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

Conference fees (until May 31, US$ 50 more June 1 - July 15):

Regular international participant: US$ 375
Regular Georgian participant: US$ 200
International student or young scientist (up to 32 years of age): US$ 225
Georgian student or young scientist: US$ 150
International participant in the Monday course only: US$ 120
Georgian participant in the Monday course only: US$ 80
Accompanying person: US$ 150
The conference fee covers the costs of the Monday course, attendance at all lectures and poster sessions, lunches, get together Monday night, coffee breaks, banquet Wed-nesday night, and a book of abstracts. The accompanying person fee covers get toge-ther, lunches and banquet. The payment can be made in advance, see http://www.polychar26.tsu.ge/.

The oral presentations take 20 - 35 minutes including the discussion, invited lectures 40 minutes including the discussion. There will be two poster sessions.
The following Prizes are awarded:

Paul J. Flory Research Prize International Materials Research Prize
Bruce Hartmann Prize for Young Scientists
Jürgen Springer Prize for Young Scientists
Carl Klason Student Awards (up to 3)
Student Diplomas of Distinction (up to 4)

Every student or young scientist has to state their status on the registration form to be considered for one of the prizes.

For each paper presented at the Forum, oral or poster, there is an opportunity – but not an obligation – to submit that paper for publication in Pure & Applied Chemistry (PAC) or in Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects. Each such manuscript will be subjected to at least two reviews. The manuscripts have to be brought to the Forum and submitted to the organizers.

Georgia is a country with some 2500 years of history. Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of about 1.5 million inhabitants. Tbilisi is known for its dis¬tinctive architecture, which reflects the city varied past and comprises an eclectic mix of Medieval, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Stalinist and Modernist structures. Present-day Tbilisi is one of the safest cities in Europe and ranks among the most popular emerging destinations thanks to Georgia's grow¬ing tourism industry. World travellers rank Tbilisi among the most enchanting destinations, along with Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm, Vancouver, Venice and Tokyo. More specific information on getting to Tbilisi is included on the web site. There are hotels and dormitories at various prices close to the Ivane Javakhisvili University.

There are optional post-conference tours: Saturday to Mkheta, Gori (the birthplace of Stalin) and Ufliscikhe for US$ 35, or Saturday and Sunday to Batumi on the Black Sea, with one night in a hotel in Batumi, the cost currently under negotiation.

We hope to meet you all in Tbilisi!

Sincerely,
Omar Mukbaniani
Chair of the POLYCHAR 26 Organizing Committee

INVITATION