Request Expert

Expert has personal experience with resin transfer molding and pultrusion. He has published work on modeling of pultrusion of vinyl ester composites. He teaches a graduate-level course on composite material processing.

Expert has been doing research on polymer nanocomposites since 1990. He has publications on barrier properties, flammability properties, mechanical properties, and thermal properties of nanocomposites. He has a well equipped laboratory for processing and characterization of nanocomposites. He is the co-editor of the forthcoming Polymer Nanocomposites Handbook.

Expert set up a laboratory for extrusion compounding of polymers and additives in 2002. Available equipment includes a co/counter- rotating twin-screw extruder with a water bath and pelletizer. This equipment is used to conduct funded research and also proprietary research for area companies.

Expert's entire professional career, beginning with his Ph.D., has been devoted to understanding polymer processing operations. He has personal experience with thermoplastic polymer processing operations such as single and twin-screw extrusion, fiber spinning, film blowing and injection molding and thermosetting polymer processing operations such as hand lay up, compression molding, filament winding, resin transfer molding and pultrusion. He teaches a graduate-level course on processing of thermoplastics and a graduate-level course on processing of thermosets.

Expert has been involved with a major Department of Energy funded project on the recycling of polymers from end-of-life electronics. These are mainly polymers like ABS, Polycarbonate and their blends and HIPS. He has published extensively on strategies that one can employ to recycle commingled polymers into high-value applications.

Expert was trained as a rheologist, and he has personally contributed to the literature in the area of extensional flow of polymer solutions. He holds a U.S. Patent on a device that can be used to measure the extensional viscosity of mobile liquids using very small liquid volumes. He is the author of the second edition of "Polymer and Composite Rheology" published by Marcel Dekker in 2000.

Expert worked for the Monsanto Textiles Company early on in his career, and he has published on the topic of crystallization in PET and nylon 66, two of the most important fiber-forming polymers.

Expert has been working on improving wood/plastic composites since 2002. He has numerous publications devoted to every aspect of WPCs. Research topics include alkali treatment of wood fibers, use of a mixture of coupling agents, flame retardants for WPCs, use of ABS as the polymer matrix, addition of nanofillers to the matrix and foaming of WPCs. He has a well-equipped laboratory for work on WPCs including equipment for profile extrusion of WPCs and injection molding of WPCs.

Consultant for Shell Development Company, Westhollow Research Center, Houston, TX on the topic of lubricant viscoelasticityConsultant for Oxce Fuel Company, Windsor, CT on the topic of extensional flow of suspensionsConsultant for Hi-Tek Polymers, Vernon, TX on the topic of suspension rheologyConsultant for S.C. Johnson and Son, Racine, WI on the topic of polymer nanocomposites and polymer rheologyConsultant for Bayer MaterialScience, Pittsburgh, PA on the topic of polymer recycling