WIN Seminar - Jan Valtera

Thursday, June 8, 2023 11:00 am - 11:00 am GMT (GMT +00:00)

Advance technologies for production of polymeric nanofibers and specific nanofibrous structures

The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) is pleased to present a seminar with Jan Valtera, Assoc. Professor and Vice-Dean for International and Public Relations from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Liberec.

This seminar is titled "Advance technologies for production of polymeric nanofibers and specific nanofibrous structures," and will be held on Thursday June 8, 2023 at 11:00 AM in QNC 1501. Registration is required!

Abstract

Polymeric nanofibers are the subject of material research in many areas, e.g for medical and technical application.
Out of the many techniques for production of polymeric nanofibers the electrospinning is the most common industrial technology for preparation of polymeric nanofibers. The Technical University of Liberec has contributed significantly to the development of direct current (DC) electrospinning and recently also the alternating current (AC) electrospiining technology. DC electrospinning has been used world wide in both laboratory and industrial scales (e.g. with machines Nanospider by Elmarco s.r.o.,Czech Republic).


The production of nanofibers using the AC electrospinining allows highly effective production of nanofibers without any physical collector. Further more, the absence of physical collector opens up possibilities of production various nanofibrous structures, e.g composite yarn contaning nanofibers and braided linear structures for medical sutures, membranes that were used in the first wave of Covid-19 to overcame the lack of protection masks.
The presentation is focused on techniques for production of nanofibers with emphasize to the AC electrospining as the state of art technology. The general design concepts of spinning machines and the electrodes including electric field analysis is discussed.


The goal of this seminar is to present new reserch results in nanofiber materials and nanofibrus fabrics to students and experts in this field. Presentation and discussion should also help to connect research teams as well as institutions to strenghten the international collaboration in both the reserach and student exchange activities.

Biography
Headshot image of Jan Valtera.

Jan Valtera studied at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Technical University of Liberec, in Czech Republic, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 2014. He is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Textile Machine Design and also the Vice-Dean for the International and Public Affairs at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

In 2009-2010 he spent 12 months as a visiting scholar at the City University of London, School of Engineering and Computer Science. The main research tasks he covers relate to design of machines and devices for production of nanomaterials, simulation of electric and magnetic field and implementation of magnetic systems into dynamic applications.

In his pedagogical work, he focuses on topics related to the construction of machines, especially in the field of spinning machines and machines for the production of nanofibers. He is currently guarantor of four subjects and delivers lectures in selected parts of other 8 subjects at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

He is author or co-author of more than 40 journal and conference papers and co-author of 8 patents granted by the industrial patent office. As a principal investigator he carried out several research projects related to design of machines for production polymeric nanofibers and nanofibrous structures. He is a member of university research team working on various contract research projects under the Nano Technology Cluster Nanoprogress on R&D of machines and devices for production of nanofibers using DC and AC electrospinning technology and novel nanofiber materials.

More information are available at: http://www.fs.tul.cz/en/