20 Minutes With Kash Mittal
Rachel Fowler, Associate Editor | TLT 20 Minutes May 2015
This accomplished teacher, consultant, editor and author discusses adhesion, surface cleaning and surface science.
KASH MITTAL - The Quick File
Dr. Kashmiri Lal Mittal was associated with IBM Corp. from 1972-1994. Currently he is teaching and consulting worldwide in the broad areas of adhesion and surface cleaning. He has initiated, organized and chaired a large number of international symposia and is the editor of 118 published books, as well as others in the process of publication dealing, among other areas, with adhesion measurement, adhesion of polymeric coatings, polymer surfaces, adhesive joints, adhesion promoters, thin films, polyimides, surface modification, contact angle and wettability, surface cleaning and surfactants. Kash has received many awards and honors, is a Robert L. Patrick Fellow of the Adhesion Society and is listed in many biographical reference works. He was the editor-in-chief of the international Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology (JAST) until April 2012 and is a member of the editorial boards for numerous scientific and technical journals.
He was recognized for his contributions and accomplishments by the worldwide adhesion community by organizing—in his honor on his 50th birthday—the First International Congress on Adhesion Science and Technology in Amsterdam in 1995, where 235 papers from 38 countries were presented. In 2002 he was honored by the global surfactant community by inaugurating the Kash Mittal Award for his large efforts and significant contribution to the field of colloid and interface chemistry. In 2003 he was honored by the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, with the title of doctor honoris causa. In 2006 he was recognized by dedicating volumes 123-126 of the Advances in Colloid and Interface Science in his honor on his 60th birthday. In 2010 Kash was recognized for publication of his 100 edited books by two symposia held in his honor: Recent Advances in Adhesion Science and Technology, held at the American Chemical Society meeting in Boston, August 2010, and Surfactant Science and Technology: Retrospects and Prospects, held in Melbourne, Australia, in November 2010. A special issue of Colloids and Surfaces A (Vol. 391, issues 1-3, November 5, 2011) was dedicated to him to honor the publication of his 100th edited book. In 2014 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Chemical Society. In 2014 two books were published in his honor.
Kash is the founding editor of the new journal titled Reviews of Adhesion and Adhesives as well as the new book series titled Adhesion and Adhesives: Fundamental and Applied Aspects.
Kash Mittal
TLT: How did you get involved with this industry?
Mittal: After receiving my doctorate in surface and colloid science from the University of Southern California in 1970, I had two brief stints as postdoc at Penn State and University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). While I was at UPenn in 1972, I received an offer as a Postdoctoral Fellow from IBM Corp. in San Jose, Calif., which I immediately grabbed. In those days, to work for IBM was a status thing.
This postdoc assignment was for a maximum of two years, and there was no obligation on the part of IBM to offer me a permanent position. In 1974 a more durable position became available at IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in the Product Assurance Group. From 1974 to 1994, I stayed at IBM and worked at three different locations on many different projects. My last job at IBM was extremely interesting and enjoyable as I was a “faculty member” in the Corporate Technical Institutes (also dubbed as IBM University) where I was responsible for organizing and delivering courses in the broad domain of materials science to cater to the needs of various IBM locations.
TLT: What are the major challenges in the fields of adhesion, surface science and surface cleaning?
Mittal: All my life I have been enamored by what happens at the interface between two materials. I firmly believe the interface is the seat of action or where the rubber meets the road. Many product failures can be imputed to suboptimum interface between two mating partners. When I joined IBM it became quite apparent to me that the phenomenon of adhesion between two similar or dissimilar materials was of cardinal importance in almost all industries ranging from mundane (gluing toys) to highly sophisticated (microelectronics). So in 1972 I got hooked on the topic of adhesion and I am still stuck to it.
The Holy Grail in the field of adhesion is how to make water-resistant bonds. Water is the god’s cruelest liquid when it comes to adhesion, and soapy water is even worse. There has been a serious quest to devise ways to make bonds that can withstand the fissiparous effect of water. Only a lowly barnacle knows how to accomplish this task, but it has eluded and frustrated the erudite scientists. Barnacles stick to every surface in the presence of water (water with all sorts of chemicals such as electrolytes in it) and stays there comfortably. Apropos, barnacle sticks even to Teflon (putatively a nonstick material). So the learned scientists can gain a lot from our dear friend, the barnacle. Just a few eclectic examples will suffice to underscore what water can do to adhesion. One can make durable bonds under normal environmental conditions, but when monsoon season starts (raining cats and dogs), bonded assemblies fall apart. Anybody can peel a hot potato; try peeling a cold potato! This is, on the contrary, an example of the salutary effect of water.
There are many challenges in the fields of adhesion, surface science and surface cleaning, but here I will focus on more serious and urgent challenges.
•
Study the deleterious effect of water on a molecular level and devise ways to develop adhesives that can fully function under water. Here we can learn a lot from our friend, the barnacle. There currently is a great deal of research activity in mimicking the so-called barnacle cement and in understanding how it works without any adverse effect of water. As for unravelling the mechanism of water effect, many of the commonly available spectroscopic techniques cannot be deployed, as these are in vacuum. So new techniques need to be developed that can do the trick.
•
We use the terms
interface and
interphase in the field of adhesion. Strictly speaking—according to professor J.W. Gibbs of Yale University—an interface is a mathematical plain (a sharp boundary or frontier). It is two-dimensional and thus has no thickness. By the way, someone told me that at Yale University it is commonly believed that God and Gibbs never lied, so you can without any uncertainty believe Gibbs. Interfaces are not too common; rather, they are rare. One good example of interface is gold on Teflon. As a matter of fact, an interface is undesirable to obtain good adhesion. The more common is interphase, which has thickness. It is a region between two materials. Its thickness can range from nanometer to micrometer. The challenge is how to tailor, modify and characterize this narrow region. This will require novel techniques to get a handle at this interphase.
•
By modifying or properly treating surfaces of materials (particularly polymers), one can attain the desired surface characteristics without tempering with the good bulk properties. There is always the need to devise new ways for surface modification or to ameliorate the existing ones. One of the challenges in this arena is how to prolong the life of treatment. Right now most treatments are short-lived. If the treatment could be made permanent, that will be extremely appealing and beneficial to the industry.
•
As for cleaning, in the world of shrinking dimensions in microelectronics, the particles—which just a few years ago were cosmetically unappealing but functionally innocuous—are “killer defects” today, and this concern will intensify in the years to come.
TLT: What roles do industry, academia and government have in solving these challenges?
Mittal: All these entities have to play their respective roles in solving these problems and meeting the challenges in the field of adhesion.
First, I believe more universities should expand their research and teaching activities in the wonderful world of adhesion science and technology. Also there should be a provision to award formal degrees (masters, doctorates) in the field of adhesion science and technology. I firmly believe there is a paucity of well-trained and well-educated workforces in the field of adhesion. So these individuals equipped with the latest knowledge can help the industry in addressing their problems.
To the best of my knowledge, in 1976 there were no universities in the U.S. teaching formal courses in adhesion science and technology, nor awarding graduate degrees. This was quite lamentable. So to meet the needs of the industry, in 1976 I started giving a three-day course on adhesion science and technology, which is still offered.
The industry should provide the opportunity to their employees (researchers) to carry out fundamental research in the domain of adhesion, and in the long run the industry will be the beneficiary of the rewards of such research.
As for government, I believe more funding should be allocated for research in the field of adhesion, which is crucially important for a host of industries.
TLT: Tell us more about the Materials Science and Technology (MST) Conferences and your role as director.
Mittal: The MST Conferences made its debut in 1989 with the purpose of organizing highly focused symposia on various topics in the broad domain of MST. Adhesion is an important component of MST Conferences. This is a joint effort between Dr. Robert H. Lacombe (a dear friend and former IBM colleague) and yours truly, with me serving as director and Bob as chairman. I oversee the events organized by MST Conferences while Bob runs the operation and takes care of day-to-day activities. Since inception, MST Conferences have organized many symposia on a variety of topics within the realm of materials science and technology. Recently we have started offering a three-day course titled The Chemistry, Physics and Mechanics of Adhesion Science, which has been very well received. Via this activity, we are fulfilling the need of the industry in a modest way.
TLT: What do you enjoy most about your work?
Mittal: Everyone is born with a purpose in life, and my destiny was to spread the gospel of adhesion science. Teaching is in my DNA, and during the span of about 40 years I have converted about 10,000 individuals to the religion of adhesion. There is an Indian adage: “If you cannot become viceroy, become a professor, as teaching is the noblest profession.”
I am fascinated by the field of adhesion, and my love affair with adhesion goes back to 1972 (a romance for four decades). One time the field of adhesion was humorously and light-heartedly labeled as a
sticky business. I always say, “As long as you do not call it
stinky, it is tolerable.” Now the field of adhesion should have some glamor since, in the past, two Nobel Laureates have published in the area of adhesion, which certainly should elevate its status from sticky business to a bona fide subdiscipline of surface science.
I also would like to add that I am a congenital leader and builder. I like to chart new territories. In 1987 I cofounded the Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology and was at its helm until April 2012. In 2012 I founded a new journal titled Reviews of Adhesion and Adhesives.
TLT: What major breakthroughs in adhesion, surface science and surface cleaning have been reported recently?
Mittal: See my previous answer to the major challenges. Also I would like to add that there have been significant breakthroughs and developments recently in all of these three areas. A few examples are listed here.
•
New theoretical, experimental, modeling and simulation work in unraveling adhesion at a molecular/atomic level.
•
New techniques to understand and characterize surfaces and ways to modulate and unravel interfacial interactions.
•
New insights into mechanisms of nanoparticle adhesion and novel techniques to remove nanoparticles from a variety of surfaces.
TLT: How do you see these developments in the industry impacting tribology research?
Mittal: The subject of tribology subsumes the topics of friction, lubrication and wear, which are all innately surface/interfacial phenomena. So naturally the field of tribology will be beneficiary from the developments in the field of surface science. These days, nano and green are buzz words. And the field of nanotribology is currently of utmost relevance and importance. So understanding and manipulating surfaces at a nanolevel are directly pertinent to nanotribological aspects.
You can reach Kash Mittal at usharmittal@gmail.com.