September 11
@
4:00 PM
–
5:00 PM
Reception 3:30-4:00pm (2-story space besides 1610 E Hall)
E.J. (Ted) Lightfoot
Ted Lightfoot Consulting
Amherst, NY
Transport Phenomena and Coating Science
In the 1960s Transport Phenomena triggered a shift in engineering education from engineering technology to engineering science. In the 1970s the more advanced coating companies (in the photographic, magnetic tape, and paper industries) began to undertake fundamental studies of the formation and drying of thin liquid layers on a moving solid substrate. Over the next fifty years, tremendous progress has been made in understanding how transport phenomena (including rheology, fluid mechanics, and both internal and external mass transport) affect the production of coated layers applied to a range of substrates. This talk will review the history of mathematical modeling of the transport processes encountered in the coating industry as well as several opportunities for fundamental advancement that could benefit battery and fuel cell manufacture as well as the development of Perovskite solar cells. Although the talk will review the use of mathematical tools to describe key physical phenomena important to the industry, the emphasis will be on human factors — both cultural biases and the individual people who have shaped the field.