Ramani Narayan Research Group

Michigan State University

Can polymeric materials from renewable resources be engineered to be biodegradable and industrially manufacturable? Researchers develop biobased and biodegradable polymer systems and study their degradation behaviors under environmental conditions. The group uses reactive extrusion processing to translate laboratory polymer formulations to commercial-scale manufacturing of greener products. Scientists design interpenetrating polymer networks derived from silylated soybean oil combined with water-soluble polysiloxanes for tunable material properties. Work includes engineering natural-synthetic graft and block copolymers and recyclable biobased composites for sustainable material applications.