Mr Richard Hodgkinson

Biography

I graduated from The University Of Sheffield department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) in 2012 with a First Class Honours degree, after having completed my undergraduate research project under the guidance of Dr Jonathan Howse and Dr Stephen Ebbens. The research project and previous summer work (SURE/EPSRC), focused on developing microscopy techniques with regards to the spin-coating visualisation of polymer blends - Building on a interest in electronics with application to an inter-disciplinary chemical engineering context.

Supervisors

Professor William Zimmerman

Dr Jonathan Howse

Prizes

IET Innovation Awards 2012 - Short-listed finalists (Spin coating visualisation)
Polymer IRC Spring Showcase (2011) - Poster Prize Winner (Spin coating visualisation)

Research group

Process Fluidics Group

My research

The undergraduate work developed a research interest of applied measurement techniques in practical situations. I was offered a PhD in 2012 in the department of CBE under the joint supervision of Professor William Zimmerman and Dr Jonathan Howse, focusing on in-situ fluid rheometry measurement. The project is a collaboration between members of the CBE, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics departments of the university. Fluid rheometry measurement for in-line applications is complicated by a requirement for a range of shear rates and the associated measurement sensors, particularly when applied to compact geometries. The previous work on spin coating visualisation led to the first real-time videos and height reconstructions of polymer blends. This is currently being continued as part of the Particle Products Group's research interests.

Publications

Ebbens, S.; Hodgkinson, R.; Parnell, A. J.; Dunbar, A.; Martin, S. J.; Topham, P. D.; Clarke, N.; and Howse, J. R.; 2011. In Situ Imaging and Height Reconstruction of Phase Separation Processes in Polymer Blends during Spin Coating. ACS Nano, 5 (6), 5124–5131.