History

GUMFERENCE is a scientific conference focused on the advanced testing of soft polymeric materials. The origins of GUMFERENCE date back to 2011 when its first edition was held in Zlín, located in the southeast of the Czech Republic, where the polymer industry is concentrated within the Czech Republic.

The aim of the event was and is to develop cross-border cooperation in rubber science, especially between the industrial and academic sectors and research and development institutions. Seven editions of this one-day conference have already been organized in the spirit of this idea. Initially, the conference had a regional character. However, the growing popularity of the conference ensured its development from a local to an international event. This culminated in the sixth edition, held in 2022 and organized for the first time by a consortium of international partners consisting of Tomas Bata University in Zlín (Czech Republic) and the Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V. (Germany). Since this edition, the conference has been organised online in a virtual manner, which has facilitated access for participants from all over the world and arranged a program of distinguished scientists. In February 2023, 11 speakers from academia and industry originating from 6 different countries across Asia and Europe presented their research work.

The following very interesting scientific programme was presented last Gumference 2023:

SpeakerTopic
Gert Heinrich Understanding rubber wear using advanced in-situ X-ray scattering
Jun Sawada Physical properties of epoxidized natural rubber with ionic cross-linking networks
Wu Jian Wear behavior of solid rubber tire under high-speed rolling conditions
Prasenjit Ghosh Impact of ageing time on fatigue crack growth rate of natural rubber compounds
Jan Weilert Fundamental aspects of reinforcement in elastomeric materials
William Amoako Kyei-Manu Effect of CB properties on heat build-up and energy dissipation in rubbers
Evghenii Harea Novel aspects of piezoresistive behavior of CB filled rubber under cyclic loading
Franz Dammaß Phase-field modeling of fracture in rubbery polymers
Michal Drobilík Effect of carbon black and curing system on rubber-metal bonding behavior
Laura Neumann On the architecture and mechanical properties of double network hydrogels
Mokarram Hossain A case study for soft materials under multiple loads: experiments & modeling