Babli Kapur: A case study in perseverance and accomplishment 

Through a move to Europe, for family reasons, Babli ended up working at Dow Iberica in Spain. This initiated a new journey in polymer research and her career took off with the development of an online product quality control analyzer. The analyzers provided real-time feedback on numerous key properties of the polymers, as they were being produced and Dow widely adopted their use in manufacturing plants. The rollout of the analyzers led to global analyzer support and Babli’s eventual relocation to Texas.  

After the success of the analyzer project, Babli was ready for a new challenge. Dow assigned her to its gas-phase polyethylene product development team at a critical time. Dow had recently acquired Union Carbide along with Carbide’s gas-phase polymerization technology. This combination of the two polyolefin powerhouses proved to be a synergistic success.  

Union Carbide at the time was focused on licensing technology while Dow had a product-oriented approach to create top-tier performance materials. One might not think of HDPE as a high-performance polymer, compared to the other high-end technology offerings from Dow and other polymer producers, but in designing a polymer to produce billions of lightweight bottles with near zero defects, any performance edge the polymer producer can offer translates to more efficient packaging and materials conservation.  

“That is where I really got into blow molding technology — especially bimodal blow molding resin development,” Babli recalled recently. “It was a very fast education because I did not know anything about blow molding at the time. What I did have was a strong foundation of analytical and materials science. I was also knowledgeable on how to correlate materials science to market applications — that is, how to connect process and catalyst technology to resin structure to achieve the desired performance of the end-use fabricated article.” 

Babli initially worked on creating Ziegler-Natta-catalyzed bimodal grades for blow molding. That led to a series of film, sheet, pipe, injection molding, and rotomolding resin developments for diverse applications ranging from packaging to durable goods, automotive and infrastructure. 

Bimodal polymers offer a greatly improved stiffness-toughness balance, but they are also difficult to process, and specific to blow molding, they lack die swell. Although the initial bimodal resins had exceptional physical properties, the challenge became how to maintain those properties while modifying their viscoelasticity to more closely match the processing performance of existing broad-molecular-weight-distribution unimodal polymers.  

Bimodal resins were being used in Europe in the early 2000s, but converters there had adapted the extrusion hardware and adjusted the blow molding process to accommodate the low die swell and sag properties. In the U.S., converters were mainly using unimodal blow molding grades with limited use of bimodal grades from other suppliers. However, those grades lacked superior stiffness and toughness.  

Babli commented, “I wouldn’t say Dow invented the first bimodal blow molding resin, but we significantly improved their processing-performance balance without sacrificing the physical properties.”  

Babli’s team at Dow worked on the fundamentals of correlating dual reactor gas-phase UNIPOL™II (™ Trademark of Dow or an affiliated company of Dow) process technology, catalyst innovation, polymer design, and blow molded article properties. This effort resulted in the creation of a portfolio of bimodal polymers that were excellent blow molding resins. U.S. patents describe these polymer grades as blends of specific high- and low-density materials selected to provide a specific structure and properties. One of the many presentations Babli made on these findings was at SPE’s Annual Technical Conference (ANTEC) 2009, where she received the Blow Molding Division’s Best Paper Award.  

The creation of the bimodal polymers also led Dow to other industries, including pharma and infrastructure, that benefited from the improved moisture barrier and pipe durability properties, respectively. Babli’s efforts were recognized internally at Dow and externally by customers, as well as through the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Award and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers’ Career Achievement Award. She has also received several SPE awards and is a Fellow of the Society. As of this writing, Babli is an inventor on 50 U.S. granted patents. She currently holds the position of Principal Research Fellow, a rare distinction in Dow R&D. 

Babli credits her father with instilling in her the importance of education, a strong work ethic and a can-do attitude. When her father was orphaned at a young age, he and his three siblings were taken in by their maternal uncle. While at school he started working, contributing to support the extended family. However, he was unable to pursue an engineering degree because of limited financial resources. He went on to obtain a degree in mathematics, become a professor at the National Defense Academy (NDA) in Pune, India, and retired as the NDA Mathematics Department Head. During his tenure at NDA, he took Babli and the rest of his young family to Ethiopia on a five-year teaching assignment.  

The family returned to India for Babli’s final year of high school. After being homeschooled in Ethiopia, she faced challenges competing for entry to top institutions and pursuing a path in medicine, her preferred choice. She nevertheless prevailed, as her father had, in pursuing higher education, graduating at the top of her Master of Science class, securing a national doctoral scholarship and ultimately a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. 

Babli is presently leading the Safer Materials initiative for Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics and Hydrocarbons R&D, which includes materials of concern.  

“My role is to ensure we have alternative technologies for current substances of concern as well as to work proactively across the value chain to develop innovative technologies for future safer-circular products. This initiative requires expanding analytical, digital and predictive capabilities. Further, multi-sector collaboration to ensure information is available to make sound decisions.” This is relevant work for the industry to address complex issues such as societal concerns regarding plastics, help advance circularity and develop robust legislation.  

“We want to be part of the solution,” Babli said, “And if we want a solution that works, it will need to be based on science and backed by data.” Those who know Babli, understand that her even-keeled, team-based approach, and deep scientific knowledge make her a great advocate for the industry and of multi-sector collaborations to accelerate the development of impactful technologies. 

A Texas resident now in her 33rd year at Dow, Babli has served on several SPE boards and committees, including the Blow Molding Division and the Engineering Properties and Structure Division. As a member of the South Texas Section, she has organized sessions at the section’s annual International Polyolefins Conference.  

She is a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Plastics Roundtable. These volunteer initiatives are directed towards learning, educating and sharing knowledge. This feeds Babli’s passion for science by continuous learning and giving back by mentoring young and upcoming professionals both within and outside of Dow.  

© 2025, Society of Plastics Engineers Blow Molding Division