This symposium continues the tradition set by the first symposium in this series which was held in Chicago in 1988. As with its predecessors, this symposium will be concerned with all aspects of metallized plastics. Metallized plastics have become a burgeoning technology with applications ranging from decorative design to optical coatings to advanced thin film wiring schemes in the microelectronics industry. Metallized plastic films and coatings allow the technologist to capitalize on the favorable properties of two disparate classes of materials to create new and unique products which transcend the performance and usefulness which can be obtained in either class alone.
Metals offer high electrical conductivity, excellent reflectivity and superior barrier properties.
Plastics compliment this menu with their excellent insulating properties, optical clarity, mechanical flexibility and ease of molding and processing. This symposium is organized to bring together scientists, technologists and engineers interested in all aspects of metallized plastics, to review and assess the current state of knowledge, to provide a forum for exchange and cross-fertilization of ideas and to define problem areas which need intensified efforts. The invited speakers have been selected so as to represent widely differing disciplines and interests, and they hail from academic, governmental and industrial research laboratories. This meeting is planned to be a truly international event both in geographic coverage as well as in spirit. The technical program will contain both invited overviews and contributed original research papers.