Krysten Minnici, Arkema: A passion for polymers

During high school, Krysten Minnici excelled at chemistry and math. Yet she envisioned a career in law as a prosecuting attorney. “But I was really bad at golf, so chemical engineering seemed like a better route!”

She fell in love with polymers while pursuing her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Drexel University. It has been full speed ahead ever since. Polymers and plastics were the focus of her master’s degree studies at Politecnico di Milano and then again during her doctoral work at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

“There is so much you can do with these materials. I was fascinated by their structures and material properties. I wanted to learn everything I could about them.”

Path to 3D printing

In total, Krysten has worked at Arkema for more than 5 years. Her initial Arkema experience was as a co-op associate while an undergraduate at Drexel. After earning her doctorate, she was hired as a rotational scientist, working across 7 business units.

Then she was promoted to scientist for Arkema’s high-performance Kepstan® PEKK thermoplastic. While in this role, she became proficient in 3 core 3D printing technologies:

• Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
• Fused Granulate Fabrication (FGF)
• Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

This sets the stage for her transition to Arkema 3D Printing, where she now leads business development. Part of her responsibility is to educate different markets about how 3D printing technology has evolved.

“There are production parts you can print now and real prototypes. The field has advanced so much in the past 30 years. There are far more opportunities. I try to help customers understand the latest solutions so that they are more open to trying it.”

There is an array of composite materials specifically designed for 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing (AM). They deliver parts with superior lightweighting, thermal properties and performance. Plus, 3D printing materials and processes open the door to products with complex geometries.

“Obviously, 3D printing isn’t going to replace every composite manufacturing process, but it has a unique place when greater freedom of design is needed, or traditional composite tapes and layup processes are not getting the job done.”

Encouraging and mentoring

Krysten is dedicated to supporting other young scientists, male and female. In fact, she piloted Arkema’s R&D PhD rotational scientist program. During this time, she served as a peer advisor for 2 chemists. In her Kepstan role, she managed visiting interns from France and Drexel University.

While working towards her PhD, she mentored 5 undergraduate researchers. In addition, as an academic facilitator, she taught high school students at Georgia Tech’s Summer Engineering Institute.

Collaborating with 3D printing value chain

Krysten travels often: working with customers, developing new business relationships and building the 3D printing knowledge base. From farms to factories, she cultivates partnerships across diverse markets, including automotive, aerospace, defence and orthotics and prosthetics.

“3D printing involves a very complex supply chain. My job is to help stakeholders understand the value in our different materials and to work with them on print parameters so that Arkema materials run optimally on different platforms, meeting customer requirements.”

Her work involves collaboration across the 3D printing value chain, including:

• Powder and filament partners
• Printer manufacturers
• End-users across industries
• Service bureau part manufacturers

Sustainability

Arkema’s collaborative approach extends into sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This work takes the Arkema team and partner businesses such as Forward AM to India’s Gujarat region, which borders the Arabian Sea on its west and Pakistan to the north. There they work with thousands of small farms through the Pragati sustainable castor bean program. Gujarat produces the world’s greatest supply of castor beans, a primary ingredient in making polyamide resin, including Arkema’s bio-based Rilsan® PA 11.

The Pragati initiative was launched in 2016. Arkema is one of the 4 founding members, along with BASF, Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd. and Solidaridad. Pragati enables sustainable castor crop production. This major project involves efficient use of water resources, particularly during the natural monsoon season, to conserve water and improve crop yields. Since Pragati’s inception, water consumption has decreased an estimated 21% in the demo plot, and crop yields are 37% higher than those published by the region’s local government. The initiative also helps farms to maintain soil fertility and to adopt waste management best practices. All Pragati’s work aims to respect human rights and to build better health and safety. In turn, farmers and their communities earn more for a cash crop they depend on for their livelihoods.

More than 7,000 farms have been trained, audited and certified through the Pragati program. “Most farms are small, and there are so many of them in the region. We’ve done a lot of work, but there are still many more farmers for us to keep training and helping.”

Women in sciences: progress, but more needed

“For my mother’s generation, it wasn’t even a possibility for women to go into STEM careers.” (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.)

Education

Krysten recognises major progress for female engineers and scientists, yet she sees these improvements as slow strides with a lot more ground to cover. As she entered her engineering master’s and doctoral programs, the percentage of female peers dropped precipitously from the undergraduate ratio. “There’s still work to do to get women into these higher education programs.”

“We also need more outreach at an early age. We need to get girls and young women excited about STEM.”

Industry groups are important too. “In 3D printing and composites, there are initiatives focused on women. These help to create better inclusion once women have entered the workforce.”

Inclusive corporate culture

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) should extend well beyond the hiring process. DEI ought to permeate the corporate culture. For example, businesses that prioritise inclusivity educate leaders, managers and employees at all levels about different communication styles. This helps to make meetings a place where all voices can be heard.

Krysten has managed both young women and men who are co-ops or interns at Arkema. She encourages them to avoid “imposter syndrome”, fearing they do not have enough expertise to speak confidently when they are the youngest person or only woman in the room.

“Remind yourself that you know what you’re doing and are the expert on your project. It can be easy to fall to the background and not make your voice heard. It’s important to remember the skillsets you bring to the table and that you have a place there.”

Cover photo: Krysten Minnici, Ph.D., Business Development Scientist, Arkema 3D Printing