Dr. David Zumbrunnen
Warren H. Owen - Duke Energy Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Office: 221 Fluor Daniel Building
Phone: 864.656.5625
Fax: 864.656.4435
Email: zdavid
Dr. Zumbrunnen is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a registered professional engineer. He first proposed that structured plastic materials, including nanocomposites, can be formed controllably by inducing chaotic advection in melts. Smart blending machinery resulted and several patents have been awarded. He is a recipient of the Presidential Faculty Fellow Award from The White House and National Science Foundation.
He was previously a nuclear-trained US naval officer and worked in an energy services company. He teaches courses focusing on heat and mass transfer, energy, and engineering design.
Education
PhD, Purdue University, 1988
MSME, Purdue University, 1984
BME, University of Minnesota, 1977
Research Interests
Advanced battery technologies for renewable energy and electric vehicles, formation and physical properties of polymer blends and composites, permeation through films, membranes, chaotic advection in polymer melts.
Selected Publications
Zumbrunnen, D. A., Inamdar, S., Kwon, O., and Verma, P., "Chaotic Advection as a Means to Develop Nanoscale Structures in Viscous Melts," Nano Letters, Vol. 2, pp. 1143-1148, 2002.
LaCoste, A., Schaich, K. M., Zumbrunnen, D. A., and Yam, K. L., "Advanced Controlled Release Packaging Through Smart Blending," Packaging Technology and Science, Vol. 18, pp. 77-87, 2005.
Zumbrunnen, D. A., Subrahmanian, R., Kulshreshtha, B., and Mahesha, C., "Smart Blending Technology Enabled by Chaotic Advection," Advances in Polymer Technology, Vol. 25, pp. 152-169, 2006.
Joshi, A. S. and Zumbrunnen, D. A., "Computational Clarifications of Experimental Blend Morphology Development in Immiscible Polymer Melts Organized by Chaotic Advection," Chemical Engineering Communications, Vol. 193, pp. 765-781, 2006.