Gordon P. Bierwagen, of NDSU, to deliver 2007 FSCT Mattiello Memorial Lecture.

The Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology has announced that Gordon P. Bierwagen, Professor, Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, will deliver the FSCT 2007 Joseph J. Mattiello Memorial Lecture. His presentation will be the focal point of the first Mattiello Symposium, to be held during the organization's FutureCoat! conference, October 3-5, 2007, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ont., Canada. FutureCoat! will be held in conjunction with ICE 2007.

Prof. Bierwagen's presentation is entitled "The Physical Chemistry of Organic Coatings Revisited: Viewing Coatings as a Materials Scientist."

The invited lecture commemorates the contributions of Dr. Mattiello, former President of the FSCT (1943-44), who was instrumental in expanding the application of the sciences in the decorative and protective coatings fields. Dr. Mattiello was vice president and technical director of Hilo Varnish Corporation, Brooklyn, NY, when he died in 1948.

The lecturer, chosen from among select individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the science and/or technology of coatings, is invited to deliver a paper on a phase of chemistry or other physical science, engineering, human relationships or other sciences fundamental to paint and coatings, varnish, lacquer, or otherwise related to protective or decorative coatings.

Educational and Professional Background

Gordon Bierwagen received a B.S. Degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Valparaiso University in 1964, a Ph.D. Degree in Physical Chemistry from Iowa State University in 1968, and did post-doctoral research in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota from 1968 to 1969. He has been involved in R&D in coatings since his first non-academic work at Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus) in 1969. The following year, Prof. Bierwagen joined Sherwin-Williams Research Center in Chicago and worked there for 16 years, holding positions as senior scientist, group leader, staff scientist, and laboratory director. From 1986-1989, he was the director of R&D for the Decorative Films Division of Avery, Inc. in Schererville, IN.

In December 1989, Prof. Bierwagen joined the Department of Polymers & Coatings (P&C) at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND, as Professor. Since that time, he has trained 13 Ph.D. candidates and seven Master's Degree students. Prof. Bierwagen was Chair of the Polymers and Coatings Department from 1999-2006. In 2005 the Department was renamed the Coatings and Polymeric Materials Department, and, that same year, celebrated 100 years of coatings education and research at NDSU.

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Research Activities

Prof. Bierwagen's research at Sherwin-Williams was on the physical chemistry of coatings, especially on particle effects in films. This work led him to publish extensively on the prediction and measurement of the Critical Pigment Volume Concentration (CPVC) in coatings. He also acted as a Sherwin-Williams company consultant on problems in surfaces chemistry, especially defect control in paint application.

Prof. Bierwagen's initial research activities at NDSU focused on developing new methods to measure the degree of dispersion of pigments, foam stability, and particle packing in films. Since 1992, with Prof. D. Tallman of the NDSU Department of Chemistry, he has also developed an extensive research program on corrosion control by coatings that has been very successful in attracting government and industry support. He and Prof. Tallman have authored 60 articles together on corrosion and coatings, with support first from the Office of Naval Research and, more recently, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Prof. Bierwagen has also become involved in research on the protection of outdoor bronze statues and the development of conservation coatings for such statues and has worked with the National Gallery of Art and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in this area of study.

Prof. Bierwagen has recently been the leader in the invention of a new method of protecting aluminum alloys against corrosion without the use of chromate pigments or pretreatments. This innovative method uses Mg pigments in coatings in a manner analogous to Zn particles in zinc rich paints. He and his co-workers recently introduced the use of ionic liquids in studying the electrochemistry of coatings, enabling the characterization of water transport out of coatings.

An ongoing research thrust in his group has been the development of quantitative lifetime prediction techniques for corrosion protection, and the development of quantitative, objective techniques for the accelerated testing of coatings. The replacement of the ASTM B-117 Salt Fog test remains an elusive goal.

While at NDSU, Prof. Bierwagen has developed interactions with many research groups in coatings science around the world. He has worked with the German Paint Research Institute (FPL) (Prof. Funke and his successors), the Materials Engineering group at the University of Trento in Italy (Prof. Bonora), the Corrosion Group at the Instituto Superior Tecnico/DEQ I Lisbon Portugal (Prof. Simoes), and the Coatings Research Institute of Belgium (CoRI) (Dr. Marcel Piens).

Career Highlights

Prof. Bierwagen's professional activities include serving since January 1995 as editor-in-chief of the international journal, Progress in Organic Coatings. He was North American regional editor of that publication from 1987-1995 and an Editorial Board member from 1984-1987. Prof. Bierwagen also served on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Coatings Technology from 1982-1987.

His professional affiliations include membership in the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology (FSCT) and the Northwest Society since 1970, as well as membership with the American Chemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, The Electrochemical Society, National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Materials Research Society.

Career Awards and Honors

Prof. Bierwagen won First Place in the 1972 FSCT Roon Award Competition. In addition, he and his student, Michael Nanna, were awarded a First Place Roon Award in 2003. Prof. Bierwagen was chosen as Researcher of the Year at NDSU College of Science and Mathematics in 2005-2006.

An invited speaker at Gordon Research Conferences on Coatings and a session chair at the Gordon Conference on Aqueous Corrosion, Prof. Bierwagen was vice chair in 1988 and chairman of the 1989 Gordon Research Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Coatings and Films.

He was an invited speaker at the 70th anniversary meeting of the Japanese Society for Colour Materials in 1997; an invited plenary lecturer at the FATIPEC 2000 Congress in Turin, Italy; and the invited keynote speaker at EIS 2001 in Marilleva-Trento, Italy. In June 2006, he was an invited plenary lecturer at EMCR (Electrochemical Methods for Corrosion Research) in Dourdan, France, and was an invited keynote speaker at the Coating Science International Conference COSI 2006 in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

In May 2007, Prof. Bierwagen will be an invited speaker at the Nurnberg Coating Congress, and, later that same month, will be giving an invited presentation at the International Corrosion Engineering Conference in Seoul, Korea.

He has published extensively on coatings science and corrosion control with over 105 refereed publications, and has given many technical presentations before professional organizations in which he is active.

Coatings Industry Contributions

Prof. Bierwagen has been a leader in introducing basic science into the characterization and design of coatings. As a result of his work in the area of CPVC, there is a greater understanding of coating performance and design, especially in highly pigmented coatings. His work in the area of corrosion characterization and design of corrosion protective coatings has led to the increased use of modern electrochemical methods in this part of the coatings industry.

Prof. Bierwagen's publications, involvement in education in both industry and academia, and training of young scientists have all greatly benefited the coatings industry. His former graduate students work throughout the coatings industry and related industries as well as academia.

Mattiello Symposium

Honoring the work of Prof. Bierwagen, the FSCT will sponsor the inaugural Mattiello Symposium as part of the FutureCoat! offerings. Beginning on Thursday morning, October 4, the Symposium will feature presentations by leading experts in the field of corrosion protective coatings.

General Information

Separate registration is required to attend FutureCoat! Registration will be available in mid-May. Those who register for FutureCoat! will receive admittance to the three-day program, as well as full admittance to the International Coatings Expo, the FutureCoat! Proceedings CD, and an ICE 2007 conference bag.

Updates on the Mattiello Symposium program and all FutureCoat! presentations can be found on the FSCT website at www.coatingstech.org. To be included on the mailing list to receive a registration brochure and all ICE-related mailings, contact FSCT at 492 Norristown Rd., Blue Bell, PA 19422-2350; 610.940.0777; fax: [phone] or email [e-mail].

RELATED ARTICLE: 2007 MATTIELLO MEMORIAL LECTURE

The Physical Chemistry of Organic Coatings Revisited: Viewing Coatings as a Materials Scientist

Prof. Gordon Bierwagen

Dept. of Coatings & Polymeric Materials and Center for Surface Protection

North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

Modern organic coatings are complex materials that must be observed and interpreted from the viewpoint of what has become known as Materials Science. Paints, as most of us first learned to name organic coatings, were originally designed and conceived as art forms. Visual artists developed their own applied colorants; part of an artist's success depended on these skills (consider Leonardo da Vinci).

Today, one's skills as a materials scientist are perhaps the most crucial attributes of the true coatings scientist. Considering pigmented organic coatings as random heterogeneous composite materials was the key to our contributions in improving the understanding of pigment volume concentrations (PVC) and critical PVC effects in coatings. Seeking to develop and improve electrochemical materials characterization techniques for measuring and predicting the corrosion protective properties of coatings has driven our research at NDSU in this area. Analyzing the performance of protective coatings for exterior bronze statues and viewing these coatings from the materials requirements of the art conservator has directed our activities in conservation science. The use of the methods of modern electrochemical materials science has been the key to our development of Mg-rich primers for entirely Cr-free corrosion protection of aircraft alloys. Our work on developing methods to perform materials measurements directly on coatings during their field use has directed our recent studies of embedded sensors in coatings.

Our work in these ares will be reviewed and current results presented. Forecasts of future developments in these and other areas of coatings science will be presented, extrapolating from present developments in materials science. Incorporating materials concerns, especially the methods and concepts of nano-materials science, into coatings science will be of paramount importance to future research and development in coatings.