Born in Kingston, Canada, Professor Giacomin grew up in the province of Quebec, completing high school in Montreal. He returned to Kingston for his BS and MS in Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University, and then returned to Montreal, for his PhD with John Dealy at McGill, also in Chemical Engineering. In his doctoral work he developed a shear stress transducer for molten plastics. Since then he’s held visiting professorships in Switzerland, France, Canada, Singapore and Taiwan. He and his wife Marie have two teenagers, David and Caroline. Professor Giacomin plays ice hockey. His group explores the role of rheology in plastics processing. He has lectured in English, French and Mandarin Chinese.

Thursday, Jan. 17 in MEEM 112 at 3 p.m

Core Deflection and Flash in Injection Molding

This lecture attacks two hard nuts to crack in plastics injection molding. First, a general problem called flash arising when polymer seeps between mold parting surfaces to form an unsightly paper-thin edge around the part. Here, a race between polymer solidification and pressure driven slit flow arises. Second, a problem specific to the injection molding of long slender hollow products such as test tubes is addressed. Called core deflection, here the solid steel core forming the inside of the test tube is prone to bending, causing tube bend. The underlying momentum transport governing both problems is addressed, uncovering two new dimensionless groups for plastics engineering: flashability and deflectability.