NWSCT February Meeting Reminder

The next NWSCT monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 at the Country Inn & Suites in Vadnais Heights, MN. The address is 3505 Vadnais Center Drive; Vadnais Heights, MN 55110. This meeting is being sponsored by HB Fuller.

This month's technical speaker will be Thom Dombrowski of Specialty Minerals. He will present on "The Use of Mineral Fillers as Functional Additives and Fillers in Paints and Coatings."

Various different types of minerals are used as functional additives in paint and coatings applications. The most common minerals used in paint and coatings applications will be discussed and typical properties of these minerals will be reviewed. Examples of how changes in mineral type, mineral particle size, and mineral morphology can influence the performance of a coating will be illustrated with examples using talc, ground calcium carbonate and precipitated calcium carbonate.

Thom Dombrowski is a senior scientist and group leader at Specialty Minerals Incorporated, Bethlehem, PA. Thom is a geologist with degrees from the University of Georgia (B.S.) and Indiana University (A.M, and Ph.D). Thom has worked in diverse applications of kaolin, calcium carbonate and talc for over 25 years in the at the Georgia Kaolin Company, Engelhard Inc, Lydall Composite Materials, and Specialty Minerals Inc.

The meeting will be held from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm and includes lunch. The cost for the meeting will be $15 for members and $20 for non-members if registration is made by Friday, February 7th ($20/$25 if registering later). Registration is easy, just follow this link to register and pay for the meeting: Monthly Meeting Registration. Please contact Eric Shannon (eshannon@valspar.com) if you plan to attend the meeting but will not be paying via PayPal so that we can get an accurate head count for lunch.

Important Dates and Upcoming Events

Our annual Winter Outing this year will be dinner and a Minnesota Golden Gophers Basketball Game at Williams Arena. The date is Tuesday, February 25th when the Gophers take on Big 10 rival Iowa. Williams Arena is one of the best locations in the country for college basketball so this should be a great event! This event will be limited to 40 people, click here for further details.

On March 28th we will hold our Annual Texas Hold 'Em Poker Night at Sundance Bowl in Dayton. No experience necessary, just bring your poker face!

We hope you will be able to join us for both events.

Future Monthly meetings
Tuesday, March 11th: King Industries will present on Low VOC raw material selection for coatings and DuPont will present on Lab Safety. Meeting will be held at Tennant Company.

April: Annual Education Symposium at Valspar, Tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 15th.