Manav Vakil, BTech in Chemical Engineering, Class of 2023, School of Engineering and Applied Science, won the second runners-up award in the Student Technical Paper Competition at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) 2022 India Student Regional Conference, hosted at the Vellore Institute of Technology. Manav conducted a comparative analysis of epoxy resin using core-shell rubber.

Epoxy resin is used widely in adhesives, paints, and coatings, among other things. But due to its complex structure and brittle nature, it possesses a few drawbacks. Explaining the impact of his study, Manav said, “My study tries to overcome epoxy resin’s drawbacks using core shell rubber. While observing the results, we concluded that adding a specific amount of core shell rubber to epoxy resin could be very beneficial in improving its mechanical and chemical properties that could increase its applications.” Manav conducted research during his internship at Astral Adhesives in the R&D department.