Lewis Tunnicliffe is an Atlanta-based product design and development manager at Birla Carbon, who has been recognized internationally for his scientific research in the area of carbon black filler applications to elastomers.[1]

Early life

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Tunnicliffe is originally from the West Midlands in Staffordshire, England and grew up in the small village of Haughton.

Education

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Tunnicliffe earned a BS in chemistry at the University of Durham in 2005. He then worked in industry for three years, returning to graduate school and completing a Ph.D. in 2015[2] at Queen Mary University of London under advisors James Busfield and Alan G. Thomas.[3]

Career

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Tunnicliffe's first position following his undergraduate degree was with Sibelco Europe as a research scientist. He joined Birla Carbon in February 2016 as a materials scientist. He currently heads a product design and development group at Birla. Tunnicliffe won a grant from USDA to investigate the application of cellulose nanoparticles in tires.[4]

His most cited academic work produced a method for simultaneous dielectric/dynamic mechanical characterization of a filled elastomer. The technique produces information about the presence of dipoles on the polymer-filler interface,[5] useful in understanding origins of the Mullins and Payne effects. He has also characterized the size distribution of crack precursors in carbon black filled rubber.[6][7]

Awards and recognition

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References

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  1. ^ Scalzo, Joe (19 August 2021). "Newcomers: Tunnicliffe embraces rubber's challenges, opportunities". Rubber News. Crain. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Lewis Tunnicliffe successfully defends his PhD". qmul.ac.uk. QMUL. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ^ Schunk, Andrew (27 April 2023). "ACS Rubber Division recognizes industry icons with science, tech awards". Rubber News. Crain. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Big Grant Funding Awarded to Tiniest, Mightiest Building Material of the Future". usda.gov. USDA. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  5. ^ Huang, Menglong; Tunnicliffe, Lewis B.; Zhuang, Jian; Ren, Wei; Yan, Haixue; Busfield, James J. C. (2016). "Strain-Dependent Dielectric Behavior of Carbon Black Reinforced Natural Rubber". Macromolecules. 49 (6): 2339–2347. Bibcode:2016MaMol..49.2339H. doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b02332.
  6. ^ Robertson, Christopher G; Tunnicliffe, Lewis B; Maciag, Lawrence; Bauman, Mark A; Miller, Kurt; Herd, Charles R; Mars, William V (2020-01-13). "Characterizing distributions of tensile strength and crack precursor size to evaluate filler dispersion effects and reliability of rubber". Polymers. 12 (1): 203. doi:10.3390/polym12010203. PMC 7023536. PMID 31941088.
  7. ^ Robertson, Christopher G.; Hardman., Ned J. (2021). "Nature of carbon black reinforcement of rubber: perspective on the original polymer nanocomposite". Polymers. 13 (4): 538. doi:10.3390/polym13040538. PMC 7917815. PMID 33673094.
  8. ^ "PhD student, Lewis Tunnicliffe wins the James S Walker Award of the IoM3". qmul.ac.uk. Queen Mary University of London. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  9. ^ "James S Walker Award". iom3.org. Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Lewis Tunnicliffe wins the Best Young Scientist Award". qmul.ac.uk. QMUL. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  11. ^ "ACS Rubber Division names 2023 Science and Technology Award winners". Rubber News. Crain. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  12. ^ "The Rubber Division announces the 2023 Science and Technology award winners". Rubber World. Rubber World Magazine. 11 November 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2023.