Senior Associate Consultant
Dr. Yash Khanna

Failure Analysis Expert - Dr. Yash Khanna

Dr. Yash Khanna is widely sought for his material failure analysis consulting expertise as well as his advanced plastics industry training courses and seminars.  His professional experience includes time spent at Applied Minerals, Imerys, Rayonier,  and AlliedSignal/Honeywell.  He has spent the last 13 years in private practice with his own company.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
 
2009 – Present
Private Practice – President and Owner

• Consulting activities as well as In-House training courses at companies such as PepsiCo, Eastman Chemical, Weyerhaeuser, Kimberly-Clark , Shaw Industries, Ballard Power, Beckman Coulter, Applied Minerals, and Owens-Corning for Plastics related problems
• Consulting role at a “Healthcare Companies” addressing issues such as shelf-life and antimicrobial activity in Polymer & Plastics space.

2013- 2015
Applied Minerals – Chief Technology Officer
New York, NY          
 
2005- 2009
IMERYS – Senior Technology Fellow/ Director of Technology
Roswell, GA

• Developed the most definitive understanding to date of CaCO3 – Stearic Acid interactions since the 1960’s leading to $900K annual savings.
• Using minerals (CaCO3 and Clays), developed modified products such as Non-Wovens and studied differentiation relative to the controls.

 
2001- 2004
Rayonier – Manager of Reinforced Engineered Plastics
Jessup, GA

• Led the project to a decision point. Fibers evaluated included wood fiber, wood flour, highly purified cellulose, kenaf, and rayon in comparison to glass fibers. Plastics evaluated included polypropylene (PP) and nylons (PA6 or N6).
• Developed a novel compounding process to achieve high dispersion at commercially acceptable throughputs

 
1974- 2001
AlliedSignal/ Honeywell – Research Group Leader/ Senior Principal Scientist
Morristown, NJ

• Demonstrated expertise in Thermal–Mechanical–Rheological–Barrier properties of materials.
• Uniquely skilled in demonstrating “If & Why Product / Process A is Different from Product / Process B and Inventing Solutions to Match if not Reverse the Trend” using a coordinated analytical sciences approach.
• Successfully solved numerous production, customer, and scale-up problems.
• Successfully solved manufacturing problems occurring during Injection Molding, Blow Molding, Thermoforming, Cast and Blown Film operations.

 
TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE
 

• Nylons/ Polyamides
  • Credited with “Pioneering Work on Nylons” (PA6, PA66, PA46, PA12, Amorphous Nylons)
  • Demonstrated expertise in structure-property-processing relationships: crystallinity, crystallite size, orientation, melt-rheology, dimensional stability, manufacturing problems.
• Polymers/ Plastics
  • Studied, published, and lectured on numerous polymers such as polyethylene (PE), PP, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVdC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), fluoropolymers such as Teflon, PFA, PVdF, and PCTFE, and BIO-Polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) and polylactic acid (PLA) & its blends
• Plastic Packaging Films
  • Developed a “Paper-Like Film” from an R&D concept to respond to a need for an environmentally friendly packaging film.
  • R&T’s Business Unit Liaison to Specialty Films Business (1994-1995) and key technologist for Packaging Resins Business (1994-2001).
  • Led “Emerging Technologies” to improve Moisture and or Oxygen gas barrier of plastic films by modified Metallization and other coatings such as SiOx / AlOx via plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), and E-beam vaporization. Evaluated other technologies of the future such as Polylactic acid (PLA) & its blends for packaging applications.
  • Continuously solved problems related to plastic films such as dimensional stability, optical properties, adhesive / cohesive failure, root-cause investigations of defects during retort operations, occurrence of gel defects, and bubble instability during blown film process.
• Compounding & Additives
  • Commercialized a cost-effective & high performance lubricant for Nylon plastics
  • Demonstrated skills in nucleating agents & clarifiers
  • Experienced in detecting unexpected benefits of additives & developing new applications
  • Experienced in “Specialty Compounding”

 
HONORS & AWARDS

• Research Publications > 120 {81 in Reviewed Journals, Books, and Encyclopedias}
• US Patents > 25 {from fundamental work; patents unexpected}
• Director of courses on Polymeric Films, Polymer Melt Rheology, Thermal Properties, and Analytical Sciences offered in the US and in Europe since 1995.
• Contributions to technology leveraged sales growth (>$50M) recognized by Corporate R&T through 5 Special Recognition Awards and 3 business awards, namely, GROWTH, SAVE, and SALE of the year awards. (1991-1998)
•  Recipient of the 1997 International “Mettler” award of the North American Thermal Analysis Society for outstanding contributions to thermoanalytical testing sciences.           Society’s elected Fellow (1988).

• Recipient of the 2001 International “Engineering / Technology” award of the Society of Plastics Engineers for fundamental contributions to the field of plastics.

 
 
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
 
PH.D/ MS – Polymer Science & Engineering
The Polytechnic Institute of New York University – New York, NY
 
MS – Chemical Analysis & Process Control
IIT, Delhi
 
MS – Analytical Chemistry
University of Delhi
 
BS – Chemistry
University of Delhi

• Middle-Management and Leadership
• Total Quality Leadership – TQL/ TQS
• Six-Sigma Training & Implementation to Projects

Contact Dr. Yash Khanna