SECOND SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL "HYBRID" CONFERENCE ON FTPO
We successfuly concluded with two-day international conference FTPO on the topic of plastic gears (FTPO Conference 2021- Plastics gears), which took place on 17 and 18 June 2021 in Slovenj Gradec. The conference was organized as a hybrid, with participation in Slovenj Gradec and accessibility via the website using the MS Teams application. The conference was a great success, with a total of more than 50 participants from 18 different countries.
The purpose of the conference was to connect researchers from the academic sphere, both theoretical and practical, and industry working in the field of polymer gears and their applications. This area has become extremely interesting in recent years, mainly thanks to e-mobility. Namely, it brings new challenges to gear manufacturers, the demand for higher loads, greater durability and the associated higher quality. The program covered the entire field of plastic gears, from simulations, material development to practical application. The topics of the presentations were very diverse and covered all areas important for the production of polymer gears, from simulations, materials, innovative processing, tools, characterization (gears, materials, tribology and applications.
The conference was organized within the MAPgears project, where the Faculty of Polymer Technology cooperates with four other partners (Podkrižnik d.o.o., Polycom Škofja Loka d.o.o. - Črnomelj Branch, University of Ljubljana - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, TECOS - Development Center of Toolmaking of Slovenia d.o.o.). The main sponsor of the conference was KISSsoft.
We have attracted top experts in this field to participate, both from the research and education sphere (Prof. K. Stahl was replaced by colleague Illenberger, Prof. S Sentivelan, Assoc. Prof. K. Mao, Assoc. Prof. A. Hausberher , Dr. D. Zorko, Prof. C. Fernandes) as from industry (Dr. A. Pogačnik, P. Killian). The conference included 8 invited lectures and 17 other lectures. Of the seven areas we identified, most were lectures on the topic of simulations, both manufacturing and construction of gears. This is not surprising, because with simulations we can significantly accelerate the development and predict the quality of products.
The conference was chaired by our Vice Dean for Scientific Research, Assoc. prof. dr. Miroslav Huskić, and all present were greeted and addressed by the Dean of the Faculty, Assoc. prof. dr. Blaž Nardin. Our research work in the field of composite materials development was also presented by FTPO assistant Rebeka Lorber and Head of the Centre for cooperation with industry Silvester Bolka. Rebeka Lorber presented the results of a comparison of polyamide 6 composite materials with basalt and classical, glass, fibers. Silvester Bolka showed the development of thermally conductive polymer composites based on polycarbonate.
Despite the current situation, we hosted around 15 guests at the faculty premises, and more than 30 participants attended the conference online at any given time, a total of 18 different countries (from the United States and Mexico in the west to India and Russia in the east). Due to the large time difference, we also obtained permits for recording presentations, which we will provide to registered participants upon request. We also showed the FTPO premises to the participants who came to Slovenj Gradec. We complied with all security measures, the combined transfer of professional content went smoothly and we are glad that the conference was so well received and attended. We received a lot of praise from the participants, to whom we promised to organize such conferences at the FTPO on an annual basis in the future.
You can read more about the content of the event program and invited speakers at https://www.ftpo.eu/Plasticgears.