Thomas Nosker
Research Interests
Advanced processing technologies for thermoplastic resins blends that use specialized processing techniques and closely controlled rheological characteristics to develop co-continuous structures at the micro-scale. An additional focus has been on developing and evaluating novel extruder and injection molding screw designs to optimize dispersive, distributive, and recirculatory mixing of molten thermoplastic polymers. Whereas early pioneering efforts focused on low temperature systems such as polystyrene and polyethylene, current research is targeted at multiscale composites incorporating graphene and fibers with high performance engineering polymers to achieve strength and stiffness properties comparable to selected metals. Licensing and commercialization is an important part of this research and notable success has been achieved in the acceptance and use of these composites by industry and the military.
Education
• Ph.D., Department of Mechanics and Materials Science, Specialty in Polymer Physics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1988
• M.S., Mechanics and Materials Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1983
• B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1980