This research covers the following five areas: a) Cold rolling of polymers and their blends: In this area the main research is concentrated in understanding the deformation fields in rolling and characterization of structures developed in compatible and incompatible polymer blends. b) Forging of polymer powders and their mixtures with other polymers and/or low melting metals: Forging process allows the production of composite parts out of materials with widely varying thermal-deformation characteristics which is normally not possible in standard melt processing operations. c) Optical properties of polymer films: The main area of interest is to investigate the optical properties (i.e. refractive indices) as a function of film processing conditions. d) Effect of polymeric substrate surface characteristics on the growth behavior of vacuum deposited metals: The effect of surface roughness, crystallographic orientation and crystallinity in polymer substrate on the growth behavior of silver metal is currently being investigated. e) Welding of Plastics: The goal of this area is to investigate the processing-structure-property relationships in spin, vibration and ultrasonic welding of plastics.
