Henkel Captivates Young Scientists at BT Young Scientists and Technology Exhibition
Henkel attended the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin, Ireland from 11 - 13 January 2024, with the goal to inspire the next generation of scientists.
The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) is an annual competition where students from all over Ireland come to showcase their scientific projects with the hope of walking away with a top prize. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the exhibition with each year attracting more young, pioneering scientists.
This year, Seán O’Sullivan (age 17) received the main prize with his project ‘VerifyMe’, which looks at ways to differentiate between AI-generated and human-written text.
The BTYSTE event is inspiring, full of passion for science, and showcases really interesting projects. It is amazing for Henkel to be involved with BTYSTE as it encourages young people to explore the field of science, while always asking questions, as well as promoting inquisitive minds. Hopefully, we can attract many of those young scientists to Henkel Ireland one day.
Patricia Cullen, Product Development Director
The event, held at the Royal Dublin Society, provided an opportunity for Henkel to represent itself as a leading scientific organisation and introduce students to the exciting world of polymer science. The volunteers from Henkel showcased an array of engaging demonstrations, including:
The Five-Second Loctite Kettlebell Challenge
The team demonstrated the combined strength and speed of Loctite Superglue by bonding a 9kg weight to a handle with only a single drop of glue, and then lifting it after allowing it to cure for no more than 5 seconds.
Harnessing the Power of UV
The demonstrators amazed crowds with colour changing photochromic beads, which rapidly change colour under UV light. They also explained the UV curing mechanism as they glued glass slides together, which bonded instantly using only a flash of light from a UV torch.
Anaerobic Nut & Bolt Demo
The power of Loctite threadlockers was used to showcase how a part can be kept firmly in place even under intense vibration. The Henkel volunteers used a nut and bolt to demonstrate this.
Every year it is so inspiring to see the talented and pioneering technical minds of the future engage so enthusiastically with our Henkel team, and to see our Henkel experts showcase some of the compelling performance and fun aspects of our innovative products. It highlights the full lifecycle of our technologies and products in Ireland, through research and development, scale-up and manufacture, market testing and validation, and then finally in the education of future users, scientists, and engineers at the BTYSTE.
Nigel Fay, Corporate VP Henkel Adhesive Technologies and Head of Innovation and Application Engineering
