The winner of the second FEICA/EURADH Adhesion Innovation Award is Elisa Arikan for her paper on “Structural Adhesive Bonding of Polymers-Surface Characteristics and Adhesion Mechanism.” The joint FEICA (association of the European Adhesive and Sealant Industry) and EURADH (European adhesion societies) Award for Innovative Adhesion Science aspires to stimulate the interactions between industry and science.

For the 2020 edition of the biannual award, 10 candidates submitted papers in innovative adhesion science, and the EURADH jury examined each one for everything from scientific impact to practical application. Each project needed to demonstrate clear benefits to the circular economy, society, and/or the adhesive and sealant industry. The EURADH jury agreed that the impact of Arikan’s paper on the mechanism for good adhesion on a polymer surface is highly relevant for a multitude of applications and industries, and that her innovative and fundamental understanding of adhesion was particularly commendable.

Arikan is a research associate and doctoral student at the Universität der Bundeswehr München (University of the Federal Armed Forces) in cooperation with the Bundeswehr Research Institute for Materials, Fuels and Lubricants (WIWeB) in Germany. Her field of research is “Structural Adhesive Bonding of High Performance Thermoplastics,” and she submitted her dissertation this year.

“FEICA continues to support the adhesives and sealants industry by encouraging further innovations in our exciting sector,” said Kristel Ons, FEICA’s secretary general. “Many of this year’s entries demonstrate how important innovations are to our increasingly circular economy. Ms Arikan’ paper demonstrates that the use of structural adhesive bonding offers large weight saving potential compared to conventional joining methods.”

The Adhesion Innovation Award 2020 chair of the jury is Valérie Nassiet, president of the French Adhesion Society. The EURADH adhesion societies consist of Associação Portuguesa de Adesão e Adesivos (Portugal), Spanish Group for Adhesion and Adhesives-GEAA (Spain), DECHEMA (Germany), Société Française du Vide (France), Society for Adhesion and Adhesives (UK), and De bond voor materialenkennis (The Netherlands).

The prize is funded by FEICA. Arikan will present her work at the FEICA 2021 Conference & EXPO, to be held September 15-17, and the EURADH 2021 Conference, which will be October 10-14. Additional information is available at www.adhesionaward.org and www.feica.eu.