Cross-national Research in the Field of Fiber-reinforced Plastic
Habilitation of Prof. Suchart Siengchin, elected president of the King Mongkut´s University of Technology North Bangkok, at the TU Chemnitz – Research cooperation with MERGE
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Photo: Sascha Müller
Prof. Dr. Suchart Siengchin, future president of the King Mongkut´s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB), Thailand, and professor of Production Technology at the King Mongkut´s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) defended successfully his habilitation in the Faculty of Machine Engineering at the Technische Universität Chemnitz on the 21st of october 2016. For the already many years existing cooperation between the KMUTNB and the TU Chemnitz this is another visible success and a result of joint research in the field of fiber-reinforced plastics.
In his habilitation "Natural Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastics", Prof. Suchart Siengchin addressed a highly topical subject in Research and Application, which has been and still is a part of his research activity for many years. Due to Thailand´s natural resources, natural fibers such as flax, coconut, and sisal are available in great quantities and therefore for textile-and fiber-based applications of great interest.
Furthermore, those fibers are significantly less expensive than classic fibers made of glass or carbon. Prof. Suchart Siengchin gathered in various research activities the application potential of the processing of natural fibers and their combinations with bio-based plastics in regard to "green" composites and has published his results in international renowned journals.
Within the course of his research activities, an association formed between the Federal Cluster of Excellence MERGE at the TU Chemnitz and Prof. Suchart Siengchin. MERGE is engaged in various technologies and component structures including bio-based compounds made from natural fibers and biopolymers, in order to develop further lightweight structures in regards to sustainability in the conservation of resources and recycling.
Scientists of the Federal Cluster of Excellence MERGE and the KMUTNB organise workshops on a regular basis about the subjects of fiber-reinforced lightweight structures, innovative plastics technology as well as natural-fiber and biopolymer compounds, since four years. The cooperation has already led to a student exchange of the Thai-German-Graduate School of the KMUTNB and MERGE. A master student of Prof. Suchart is currently a doctoral student at the Institute for Lightweight Structures at the TU Chemnitz within the course of MERGE since october.
About the Person: Dr. Suchart Siengchin
Prof. Dr. Suchart Siengchin is an identified researcher in the field of bio-based compounds based on natural-fibers and biopolymers. Between 1996 and 1999 he studied plastics technology at the technical colleges of Giessen and Aalen, graduating with a Master of Science. In 2008 he did his doctorate at the Institute for Composite Materials in Kaiserslautern, for which he engaged in various research activities regarding natural-fiber compounds. He returned to Thailand in 2009 and took a professorship of Production Technology at the Thai-German-Graduate School. He was responsible for various leading functions at the KMUTNB and was elected vice president for the Research Department in 2012. He was elected president of the KMUTNB in august 2016 and will take office on the 15th of november this year.
Mario Steinebach
27.10.2016
