The Research, Teaching and History of
Polymers, Plastics, Rheology and Processing
This web site is about subjects on Polymers, Plastics, Rheology and Processing that covers a research active period from the 1970s to 2020 followed by some reflective assessments up to the current time and links to my fiction novels. I do hope you will find something of interest!
A significant amount of the work is visual and for example all the graphics shown above have their own special stories to tell.
The site should prove useful to people who want relatively simple and often visual explanations about a range of scientific and engineering topics. The web site also provides a teaching and research record of work I was involved with at Bristol, Sussex and Cambridge University. Powerpoint presentations and lecture notes can provide a different and simpler way to convey information when compared to formal publications.
There are specific sections on;
Polymers, Rheology, Fluid Mechanics, Innovative Processing, Scientific Apparatus,
The Sustainability of Plastics. “Something to Say“ Publications.
You will find short introductions to each of the headline topics followed by a selection of presentations that describe different aspects of the various scientific and technological fields. The presentations cover a lifetime (50 years!) of research in different areas of science, followed by innovation and then application to processes and products.
There are also my Cambridge University lecture notes on both;
Rheology and Polymers.
Science, Engineering and innovation all have visual and creative parts and some aspects are covered in“Something to say”. The section includes short articles such as how scientists and engineers can be thought of as creative people in addition to a range of topics that could be classified as opinions rather than scientific facts. There is a cluster of very visual Movie clips ,again most of the movies involve flow describing various processes and experiments.
Engineering awareness in the 21st Century ( 2023)
Recently (February 2023) Tony Blair and William Hague have joined forces to alert the UK to the potential of what they call the next ‘digital industrial revolution’. Below is a small piece I wrote on how engineering now is everywhere in every day life. My own note is one of caution, however in the spirit of Blair and Hague there are of course many opportunities for countries to grasp in this ‘second industrial revolution’.
Engineering awareness in the 21st Century
Plastics use and reuse. (2016-current)
2016 was a watershed when I belatedly realised that although ‘Plastics are Fantastic’, they have also created ‘Global Plastics Cancer’.
The Sustainability of Plastics.
I have recently (2022) included a short piece on the ‘Future of Plastics’.
The future of plastics..
Innovative Processing.
Process and Product Innovation was a very important part of our work and you will find sections on several separate inventions.
High Modulus Polyethylene (1970s to 2000s)
How to turn a low cost thermoplastic into a super stiff fibre.
High Modulus Polyethylene
Oscillatory Flow Mixing (1980s -2010s)
How to create inertial fluid mixing without ‘classic’ turbulence.
Oscillatory Flow Mixing
Flexible Chocolate (1990s – 2000s)
How to shape form chocolate without meltng it.
Flexible chocolate
Plastic Microcapillary Films (2000s – 2020s)
How to form multiple hollow channels in a plastic film.
Plastic Microcapillary Films
Something different; Two Fiction books!
High Tension (1990s -2000s)
If you are looking for a fiction scientific/technology story to read, why not try my novel? The book was written in the 1990s with an epilogue added in the 2000s. I wonder if you can pick up how the world had changed between these dates, even after such a relatively short period of time?
High Tension-pdf
Daymouth (2020- current)
Daymouth is now available as both an ebook and a paper back.
https://www.troubador.co.uk/bookshop/crime-and-thrillers/daymouth
The scientific research described in this web page has either been created by myself or an army of Postoctoral or PhD students working with me at Bristol, Sussex, CEMEF (France) and Cambridge. I am indebted to all their talents in contributing to this work and acknowledge their invaluable contribution. Any publications that appear on this web site are for educational purposes only.