Contact Dr Sameer Rahatekar

Areas of expertise

  • Aerospace Manufacturing
  • Aerospace Structures
  • Biomass and Waste
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Composites
  • Manufacturing of Functional Materials
  • Aerospace Materials
  • Nanotechnology
  • Sustainable Manufacturing

Background

Dr Sameer Rahatekar earned his PhD at University of Cambridge where he worked on nano-composites  modelling and manufacturing. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA where he worked on manufacturing strong and multi-functional natural polymer based fibres using ionic liquids as a benign solvent. He also worked on nano-particles dispersion, rheology and nano-composites manufacturing at NIST. He was a lecturer at the Advanced Composite Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) at University of Bristol where he worked on manufacturing strong of cellulose fibres as precursors for carbon fibres and on nano-particles reinforced carbon/glass fibre composites for improved fracture toughness, erosion resistance and lightening strike protection of composites parts used in aerospace industry.  

Current activities

My research is focused on utilisation of natural polymers such as Cellulose (derived from plant biomass), Alginate (derived from seaweed) and chitin/chitosan (derived from seafood waste) for engineering and biomedical use. We have developed environmentally benign method of fibre spinning regenerated high performance cellulose, chitin and chitosan fibres. The high performance cellulose fibres can be used for making renewable/sustainable composites. We have also developed a making foams from cellulose and chitin/chitosan which can be used in biodegradable packaging as well for biomedical use.


I also work on manufacturing toughed glass/carbon fibre composites using nanoparticles and rubber as toughening agents. We have develop a unique roll on coating process  to produce of nanoparticles reinforced carbon/glass fibre multi-scale composites in improved conductivity, fracture toughness and strength.

Clients

EPSRC

Innovate UK

The Royal Academy of Engineering

BBSRC/BBNet

Newton-Bhabha Funds

The British Council 

Haydale Ltd

Meggitt Aerospace 

Hexla Ltd




Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers

  • Stanier D, Rahatekar S & Ciambella J (2015) Magnetic response of aligned nickel coated carbon fibres in a pdms matrix. In: Constitutive Models for Rubber IX - Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Constitutive Models for Rubbers (ECCMR), Prague, 1 September 2015.
  • Trevarthen J, Janas D, Wisnom M, Rahatekar S & Koziol K Interfacial characterisation and optimisation of carbon nanotube fibres. In: 16th European conference on composite materials (ECCM16), Seville, 22 June 2014.
  • Zhu C, Chen J, Gilman J, Trulove P, Krzysztof K & Rahatekar S Fiber spinning and characterization of cellulose and chitin nanocomposite fibers. In: The Fiber Society Fall Meeting and Technical Conference 2013, Clemson, SC, 23-25 October 2013.
  • Koukoulas T, Broughton W, Williams J & Rahatekar S (2013) Optical characterisation of polymeric nanocomposites using tomographic, spectroscopic and Fraunhofer wavefront assessment. In: SPIE Optical Systems Design, 2012, Barcelona, 26-29 November 2012.
  • Stanier D, Ciambella J, Rahatekar S, Patil A & Mann S The reinforcement effects of graphene oxide nanoplatelets on the mechanical and viscoelastic properties of natural rubber. In: 8th European Conference on Constitutive Models for Rubbers, 2013, San Sebastian, 25-28 June 2013.
  • Rahatekar SS, Zhu CC, Koziol KK, Zammarano M, Rashid A, Gilman JW & Kumar S (2012) Cellulose and chitin nanocomposites based electrically conducting textile fibres and films. In: 243rd Meeting of the American Chemical Society, San Diego, 25-29 March 2012.
  • Rahatekar SS, Singh N, Koziol K, Patil A, Mann S, Hollander A & Kafienah W (2012) Cellulose based scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering. In: 243rd Meeting of the American Chemical Society, San Diego, 25-29 March 2012.
  • Nyden M & Rahatekar S (2009) Recent developments in modeling the dispersion and agglomeration of carbon nanotubes in polymers. In: 20th Annual Conference on Recent Advances in Flame Retardancy of Polymeric Materials 2009, Stamford, CT, 1-3 June 2009.
  • Zammarano M, Krämer R, Harris R, Ohlemiller T, Shields J, Rahatekar S & Gilman J (2007) Flexible polyurethane foams nanocomposites. In: 18th Annual Conference on Recent Advances in Flame Retardancy of Polymeric Materials, Stamford, CT, 21-23 May 2007.
  • Lackey E, Chaware R, Inamdar K, Patil V, Rahatekar S, Skelton B, Smith J & Worrel L (2000) Experimental examination of photoinitiated resins used in filament winding. In: 32nd International SAMPE Technical Conference, Boston, Massachusetts, 5-9 November 2000.