Handbook of Composites from Renewable Materials

Vijay Kumar Thakur is a Lecturer in the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing Engineering, Cranfield University, UK. Previously he had been a Staff Scientist in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University, USA. He spent his Postdoctoral study in Materials Science & Engineering at Iowa State University, USA, and his PhD in Polymer Chemistry (2009) at the National Institute of Technology, India. He has published more than 90 SCI journal research articles in the field of polymers/materials science and holds one US patent. He has also published about 25 books and thirty three book chapters on the advanced state-of-the-art of polymers/materials science with numerous publishers, including Wiley-Scrivener. Manju Kumar Thakur has been working as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the Division of Chemistry, Govt. Degree College Sarkaghat Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India since 2010. She received her PhD in Polymer Chemistry from the Chemistry Department at Himachal Pradesh University. She has rich experience in the field of organic chemistry, bio- polymers, composites/ nanocomposites, hydrogels, applications of hydrogels in the removal of toxic heavy metal ions, drug delivery etc. She has published more than 30 research papers in peer-reviewed journals, 25 book chapters and co-authored five books all in the field of polymeric materials. Michael R. Kessler is a Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University, USA as well as the Director of the school. He is an expert in the mechanics, processing, and characterization of polymer matrix composites and nanocomposites. His honours include the Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Elsevier Young Composites Researcher Award from the American Society for Composites. He has >150 journal papers and 5800 citations, holds 6 patents, published 5 books on the synthesis and characterization of polymer materials, and presented >200 talks at national and international meetings.