A $1.4 million grant from NASA will support a three-year research collaboration between LSU, Southern and Louisiana Tech. Dr. Andrew Peters, a professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech, says the money will be used to research ways to construct and fix large space structures without relying on bolts, screws or glue.
“Our job is to research what materials does it work well with, what parameters do we need to make that happen, what are the limitations of it, how optimal can we make at work, that kind of stuff,” Peters explained.
While LSU will get the bulk of that money, Louisiana Tech will receive more than $360,000. Dr. Peters says the research team will be focused on developing a new generation of materials called vitrimers.
“We’re going to have students or postdocs that gain expertise in those areas to position us for future work and whatever materials they need to optimize or whatever manufacturing techniques they need,” Peters said.
Peters says Louisiana is the perfect place to do this research, with the plastics industry being very robust in this state.
“That was part of the idea to build off the strengths of Louisiana, to improve those industries and manufacturing capabilities,” Peters noted.
