2003 Joseph J. Mattiello Memorial Lecture.

The Joseph J. Mattiello Memorial Lecture, presented annually by the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology, commemorates the contributions of Joseph J. Mattiello, who served as President of the organization from 1943-44. Dr. Mattiello was instrumental in expanding the application of the sciences in the decorative and protective coatings fields. The Mattiello Lecturer, chosen from among those who have made outstanding contributions to science, is selected to present a paper on a phase of chemistry, engineering, human relationships, or other sciences fundamental to paint, varnish, lacquer, or related protective or decorative coatings. Dr. Hegedus presented the Mattiello Lecture at the Opening Session of the FSCT's Annual Meeting, November 13-14 in Philadelphia, PA.

Charles R. Hegedus

Dr. Charles R. Hegedus is Leader of the Applications Research Team with the Performance Materials Division of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA. Dr. Hegedus earned a B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering, and M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees in Materials Engineering from Drexel University. Performing his doctoral studies under Professor Ihab Kamel, he investigated chemical interactions between pigment particles and polymers using inverse gas chromatography, flow calorimetry, rheology characterization, and pigment packing modeling. He related these findings to explain mechanical property effects in applied coating systems.

From 1976 to 1993, Dr. Hegedus worked in the Aerospace Materials Division of the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in Warminster, PA. During the latter seven years of this period, he served as Leader of the Protective Coatings Team where he developed coatings to be used on naval aircraft and other military equipment for corrosion prevention and detection/weapon countermeasures. Dr. Hegedus performed fundamental research on organic coating structure, property and performance relationships, as well as investigating and resolving corrosion problems and coatings failures in the field. He is well known for his significant accomplishments in the field of corrosion prevention and his development of UNICOAT, a self-priming topcoat for high performance applications. This material was one of the first corrosion preventive coating systems for aluminum that did not contain chromated inhibitors. In addition, it demonstrated the benefits of multifunctional coatings, which eliminate the need for multi-coat systems, thus reducing emissions, expense, and weight. This invention and its implementation garnered him the Office of Naval Technology's Top Exploratory Development Award and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator's Award for Pollution Prevention.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In 1993, Dr. Hegedus joined Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. and has since worked in various research and development groups within the Performance Materials Division. During his employment at Air Products, he has been responsible for research and development of polymers for coatings applications, most specifically waterborne polyurethanes, epoxy curing agents and resins, and most recently polyvinyl acetate-ethylene copolymers. He has also done work in the area of film formation of waterborne polyurethane coatings and for this, earned an FSCT Roon Award in 1995. More recently, Dr. Hegedus worked with Fritz Walker, Frank Pepe, John Dickenson, and Renee Keller to develop novel epoxy-water copolymers. They were the recipients of an FSCT Roon Award in 2001 for the publication of this research. Dr. Hegedus was also honored with NADC's Outstanding Science and Engineering Award in 1988, and received the FSCT's Corrosion Publication Award in 1993 for his work in the area of coatings characterization and property analysis. In November 2003, he was awarded the prestigious FSCT President's Award in recognition of his leadership role as Chair of the FSCT Publications Committee in the development of the two new FSCT journals: JCT Research and JCT CoatingsTech.

An author of over 65 papers and publications, Dr. Hegedus holds 20 patents on coatings related topics. In addition to contributions stemming from his research and development, he has served on a number of industry-related committees. Currently Chair of the FSCT Publications Committee, Dr. Hegedus also serves on the Editorial Review Board for JCT Research. Formerly Chair of the FSCT Corrosion Committee, he has been a course lecturer for FSCT, ASTM International, NACE, and Drexel University. Dr. Hegedus is a member of the Philadelphia Society for Coatings Technology, The Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC), and the American Chemical Society Division of Polymer Science and Materials.