In Memory of Professor Al Moslemi

On 12 August Professor Al Moslemi passed peacefully away at the age of 74.

Professor Al Moslemi, as many of you may know, began the IIBCC conference series over 20 years ago. The conference was initiated in the belief that the technology of inorganic-bonded composites had a great deal of potential in meeting the needs of our society for alternative building and possibly industrial materials.

Early research to windows of opportunity

Prior to the start of the conference in 1988, Prof. Moslemi's research focused mostly in wood particle and fiber composites. These composites had an attraction of using low grade wood and mill residues in manufacturing such products as particle board and medium and high density fiber boards. Organic resins such as urea formaldehyde and phenol formaldehyde, for example, were and continue to be used as binders for these types of composites.  Those industries have now become substantial and worldwide.

In the search for alternative binders (or really matrices), he and his graduate students began to experiment with inorganic materials, such as portland cement and gypsum.  Actually, Prof. Moslemi's exposure to inorganic-bonded composites began in the early 1960s. At that time, as a graduate student at Michigan State University in the US, he worked the summers in a small research lab at Elmendorf Research, Inc. located in California. A visionary laboratory manager by the name of Thomas Vaughn introduced Prof. Moslemi to the possibility of binding wood strands with portland cement.  In those days, lacking the information that we have today, there were some significant challenges to overcome. Many problems associated with wood-cement compatibility, for example, were encountered that required a basic understanding of the chemical reactions between the wood particles and the inorganic matrix. Once more knowledge was gained on these chemical interactions, windows of opportunity began to open. Good wood-cement bonding was, for example, combined with strand orientation (wood strands of about 25-30 mm long and 6-10mm wide of certain species). Exceptionally strong boards could thus be produced.

From local to global - the birth of the conference

The work on inorganic-bonded composites continued after Prof. Moslemi began his university career.  By 1988, a few colleagues and Prof. Moslemi were working on the concept but never had the opportunity to gather in a meeting to share information. This is when Prof. Moslemi initiated the first conference expecting a very small group of mostly researchers and graduate students. To his surprise some 160 participants from several parts of the world arrived at the University of Idaho campus where Prof. Moslemi worked. Having witnessed this unexpected interest, the decision was made to begin a continuing series of such conferences once every two years.

The IIBCC conference, thus, has been held once every two years ever since. It was generally held in the US during much of its early years. Starting in 2004 the conference went international with its venue with the 2004 IIBCC held in Vancouver, Canada. That was followed by the 2006 conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil; 2008 IIBCC in Madrid, Spain and 2010 now slated for Aalborg, Denmark.

Continuation of the IIBCC

All earlier conferences were organized by Prof Moslemi. However, beginning with the Sao Paulo conference, colleagues of Prof. Moslemi began to take a leadership role in organizing and chairing the IIBCC. Holmer Savastano, Jr. and Vanderley John in Brazil, Carlos Negro in Spain and now Henning Thygesen and Eigil V. Sorensen in Denmark have been and will continue to provide the leadership to carry on the IIBCC series.  Professor Moslemi is grateful that these colleagues have been willing and very able to carry on with IIBCC. He is now 74 years old and not as able as before to actively participate. However, he is confident that with the help of his colleagues IIBCC will continue to play a role for the type of international gathering that has been very helpful to advance the technologies and markets for fiber cement and related composites. With the increasing need to deal with recycled and other fiber resources and the need for construction materials, IIBCC will continue to be an excellent forum where more than 30 nations gather to learn and make business and scientific contacts.