 Craig Clemons | Craig M. ClemonsEngineered Composites ScienceUnit: FPL-4706 Materials Research Engineer One Gifford Pinchot Drive Madison, WI United States 53726-2398 Phone: 608-231-9396 craig.m.clemons@usda.gov |
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Current Research
Dr. Clemons' research seeks to overcome technical limitations currently preventing the expanded use polymer composites made with fillers and reinforcements derived from wood or other natural fibers or discover new types of composites made from them. These composites constitute a broad class of materials that range from composites of recycled plastics, wood flour, and various additives to high-performance composites from engineering polymers and nanocellulose, for example.Though some of these composites (e.g., early wood-flour-filled thermosets – “bakelite”) have been around since the early 1900's, current research usually involves dynamic market segments or rapidly emerging technology areas such as biopolymers or nano-scale fillers and reinforcements that may lead to composites with very different characteristics (e.g., transparency) than those that have been historically produced.Major research objectives include:
- Understanding and optimizing the influences of constituent materials on the behavior of wood-polymer composites and cellulose nanocomposites
- Developing and optimizing composite preparation methods
- Relating microstructure and morphology to composite behavior
- Using wood-polymer composite technology as a tool to restore damaged ecosystems and promote resource sustainability
Research Interest
- Cellulose nanocomposites
- Materials science and processing of composites from wood or other natural fibers and plastics
- Microstructural influences on composite performance
- Durability of wood-plastic composites
- Composites from recycled materials
Research Importance
Expanding the use polymer composites made with fillers and reinforcements derived from wood or other natural fibers have the potential to impact a variety of forest service and societal goals. These composites could offer significant outlets for wood-based materials from manufacturing residues, recovered post-consumer wood-based materials, and other recycled and underutilized forest-based resources in cost effective, durable products, for example. They also offer an opportunity for reducing the non-renewable content of petroleum-based plastics by adding a sustainable reinforcement. Discovering new technologies or applying emerging ones to wood-based composites could create high-performance and high-value composites that could make wood more competitive with other materials, move wood into entirely new markets, or favorably influence the economics of the biorefinery platform, for example.
Education
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, Ph.D. Materials Science , 2000
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, M.S. Forestry , 1990
- University of Wisconsin, Madison, B.S. Chemical Engineering , 1988
Professional Organizations
- Society of Plastics Engineers, Member
Below are the 95 US Forest Service publications sorted by year. You may re-sort the list by: Title, Date Posted, Category, Publication or Year.
| Publication Year: 2014 | |
 Highlight ID: 580 | Enhancing High-Performance Plastics with Nanocellulose Forest Service scientists are using nanocellulose to improve the performance of engineering plastics. By applying advanced processing methods, the scientists are able to temporarily reduce the melting point of the engineering plastic so that nanocell ... |
 Highlight ID: 587 | Short Cellulose Nanofibrils Reinforce Aligned Polyvinyl Alcohol Fibers Cellulose nanomaterials have recently gained much attention for their potential use for reinforcing polymers and for use in functional materials. Forest Service researchers developed procedures for creating short cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) that are ... |
| Publication Year: 2013 | |
 Highlight ID: 443 | Nanocellulose Gels Spun Into Continuous Fibers for Use in Advanced Composites Forest Service scientists worked with the University of Wisconsin to spin nanocellulose gels into continuous fibers so that they can be used more efficiently in advanced composites. The researchers are optimizing the spinning process and investigatin ... |
| Publication Year: 2012 | |
 Highlight ID: 12 | Wood-Plastic Composites Improved with Glass Adding microsized glass particles to wood-plastic composites creates a less dense but stiffer material for use in a variety of building applications ... |
| Publication Year: 2011 | |
 Highlight ID: 288 | Softening of Biomass and Its Effect on Fuel Pellet Production Biomass such as torrefied wood or wheat straw are of increasing interest as fuel but are difficult to pelletize. Researchers are investigating the softening behavior of these materials to improve the pelletization process. ... |
| Publication Year: 2010 | |
 Highlight ID: 160 | Improved Composites from Wood Flour and Mixed Plastics In a cooperative project with Louisiana State University, Forest Products Laboratory researchers have used crosslinking technologies, commonly used in the cable coating industry, to optimize the performance of composites of mixed plastics and wood fl ... |
 Highlight ID: 174 | Increasing the Value of Slash by Use in Oriented Strand Board The project takes a closer look at chunkwood processing first developed in 1977 at the Northern Research Station lab in Houghton, MI. Branches and tree tops as small as 2 inch diameter are cut to 5 inch length, debarked, sliced into veneer chips and ... |
| Title | Date Posted |
|---|---|
 Key Research Publication:A key FPL publication is Short Cellulose Nanofibrils as Reinforcement in Polyvinyl Alcohol Fiber by Ronald Sabo and Craig M. Clemons... | 12-08-2014 |