Alan D. Roberts | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
Awards | Charles Goodyear Medal (2014) [1] |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Contact mechanics |
Institutions | Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre |
Doctoral advisor | David Tabor |
Alan D. Roberts is a Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre (TARRC) scientist noted for his contributions to understanding contact phenomena in elastomers, and in particular the JKR equation. [2]
Roberts completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1968, [3] having worked in the Cavendish laboratory at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of tribologist David Tabor.
His 1971 paper [2] with Kevin Kendall and Kenneth L. Johnson forms the basis of modern theories of contact mechanics. [4]
In 1974, Roberts was recruited to the Applied Physics Group at the Malaysian Rubber Producers' Research Association (MRPRA) by Alan G. Thomas. He researched the sliding friction of rubber on wet surfaces and on ice, the effects of pH and salt concentration, and other effects.
In 1983, he was promoted to Assistant Director of MRPRA, and the following year to Deputy Director.
Roberts received the 1998 Lavoisier Medal of the French Society of the Chemical Industry, and in 2014 he received the Charles Goodyear Medal of the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society. [1]
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The unit of frequency, cycle per second, was named the "hertz" in his honor.
Charles Goodyear was an American self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer who developed vulcanized rubber, for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844.
Ronald Samuel Rivlin was a British-American physicist, mathematician, rheologist and a noted expert on rubber.
Frank Henry Westheimer was an American chemist. He taught at the University of Chicago from 1936 to 1954, and at Harvard University from 1953 to 1983, becoming the Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry in 1960, and Professor Emeritus in 1983. The Westheimer medal was established in his honor in 2002.
Kenneth Langstreth Johnson FRS FREng was a British engineer, Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge from 1977 to 1992 and a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. Most of his research was in the areas of tribology and contact mechanics.
Graham Johnson Lake is a retired scientist and former professional English cricketer.
John Douglass Ferry was a Canadian-born American chemist and biochemist noted for development of surgical products from blood plasma and for studies of the chemistry of large molecules. Along with Williams and Landel, Ferry co-authored the work on time-temperature superposition in which the now famous WLF equation first appeared. The National Academy of Sciences called Ferry "a towering figure in polymer science". The University of Wisconsin said that he was "undoubtedly the most widely recognized research pioneer in the study of motional dynamics in macromolecular systems by viscoelastic techniques".
Charles Kemball CBE PRSE FRS FRSC FRIC was a Scottish chemist who served as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1988–91) and as President of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1974-6). He pioneered the use of mass spectrometry. and was a leading expert in heterogeneous catalysis.
Robert Arbuckle Berner was an American scientist known for his contributions to the modeling of the carbon cycle. He taught Geology and Geophysics from 1965 to 2007 at Yale University, where he latterly served as Professor Emeritus until his death. His work on sedimentary rocks led to the co-founding of the BLAG model of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which takes into account both geochemical and biological contributions to the carbon cycle.
The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, and consists of a gold medal, a framed certificate and prize money. The medal honors individuals for "outstanding invention, innovation, or development which has resulted in a significant change or contribution to the nature of the rubber industry". Awardees give a lecture at an ACS Rubber Division meeting, and publish a review of their work in the society's scientific journal Rubber Chemistry and Technology.
The Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award is a professional award conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1983, the award is named after Melvin Mooney, developer of the Mooney viscometer and of the Mooney-Rivlin hyperelastic law. The award consists of an engraved plaque and prize money. The medal honors individuals "who have exhibited exceptional technical competency by making significant and repeated contributions to rubber science and technology".
Alan G. Thomas (1927-2019) was an international authority on the mechanics of rubbery materials, in particular their fracture mechanics properties. Along with Ronald S. Rivlin, he published the Rupture of Rubber series of articles, beginning in 1953. He was the first to apply Griffith's energy release rate criterion to the analysis of rubber's strength and fatigue behavior.
Adolf Schallamach (1905–1997) was a scientist at the British Rubber Producers' Research Association noted for pioneering understanding of the mechanisms of rubber friction. He was one of only two electrical engineers ever to win the Charles Goodyear Medal.
Dr. Karl Alfred Grosch (1923-2012) was a rubber industry scientist noted for his contributions to understanding tire friction and abrasion. Dr. Grosch is the developer of the LAT 100 Abrasion tester that is used widely in the tire industry to evaluate the friction and wear properties of rubber compounds.
Joseph A. Kuczkowski is a Goodyear scientist, noted for successfully explaining the mechanisms of antioxidant and antiozonant function, and for commercial development of new antiozonant systems and improvement of the stability of polymeric materials.
The purpose of the Sparks–Thomas Award, given by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division, is to recognize and encourage outstanding contributions and innovations in the field of elastomers by younger scientists, technologists, and engineers. The award is named for Exxon scientists William J. Sparks and Robert M. Thomas, co-inventors of Butyl rubber.
The Cohesion number (Coh) is a useful dimensionless number in particle technology by which the cohesivity of different powders can be compared. This is especially useful in DEM simulations of granular materials where scaling of the size and stiffness of the particles are inevitable due to the computationally demanding nature of the DEM modelling.
Kevin Kendall FRS is a British physicist who received a London external BSc degree at Salford CAT in 1965 while working as an engineering apprentice at Joseph Lucas Gas Turbine Ltd. He became interested in surface science during his Ph.D. study in the Cavendish Laboratory and devised a novel method for measuring the true contact area between solids using an ultrasonic transmission. That led to new arguments about the adhesion of contacting solids, giving a theory of adhesion and fracture that applies to a wide range of problems of high industrial significance, especially in the chemical industry where fine particles stick together tenaciously. His book Crack Control published by Elsevier summarizes many of these applications.