Stanley Hirschi
Professor of Physics

Education
 S.B.  Applied Mathematics, MIT (1964)
DAAD Fellow, Göttingen (1964-66)
Ph.D. Physics, MIT (1971)

Contact Information
 221 Dow Science, Dept. of Physics
Phone: 989.774.3329; Fax:  989.774.2697
e-mail: stanley.hirschi [at] cmich.edu
 http://www.phy.cmich.edu/people/hirschi/hirschi.html

Research Fields
Rheology--Experimental and computational characterization of fluids under stress.

Current Research Projects
Rheology is the study of the flow and deformation of a fluid under an applied force or stress. Air, water, paint, honey, mayonnaise, tooth paste, Silly Putty, molten plastic, and glass are all fluids, that is, they all can be made to flow, but they exhibit a huge range of properties. Knowing about the flow properties of materials (viscosity, elasticity, etc.) is important for many industrial and engineering applications. These sometimes exotic properties of a fluid must depend in a fundamental way on its structure at the atomic and molecular scale, so by examining the fluid’s response to stresses we can learn something about its structure. It is possible to further exploit this structure-property relation by using computer simulation techniques to predict the flow properties of new materials before they are actually made, thus shortening substantially the development time needed to bring modern materials to market.

Materials of current interest involve suspensions of several varieties as well as bio-fluids. Funding sources include NSF, ARL, CMU and several industrial partners.

Selected Publications
 1.  Falender, J.; Hirschi, S.; Li, G.; Rakesh, L., “Rheological Behavior of Nano-Dendrimers/Silica Suspensions” J. Rheol., to be submitted.

2.  Don Almeida, E.; Hirschi, S.; Mueller, A.; Rakesh, L. “Computer Simulation and Rheological Study of Xanthan Gum” SIAM Conference on Computational Science and Engineering, Costa Mesa, CA (2007)

3. Kujawski, M.; Rakesh, L.; Hirschi, S.; Fahlman, B.; Don Almeida, E.; Bullard, N.; Hiller, J., “Steady Shear and Linear Viscoelastic Properties of Melt Mixed and Injection Molded Samples of Polypropylene, Polystyrene, and Polyethylene Nanocomposites with Carbon Black, Vapor Grown Carbon Fibers, and Carbon Nanotubes” Proc., ASME, Chicago, (2006)

4.  Don Almeida, E.; Hirschi, S.; Mueller, A.; Rakesh, L., "Solution Rheology of Saline and Polysaccharide Systems" Proc., ASME, Chicago, (2006)

All publications: http://www.phy.cmich.edu/people/hirschi/publist.html

Picture below: AR2000 rheometer fitted with Helmholz coils for magnetorheology


Source: Miller, J; Hirschi, S.; Rakesh, L., "The Development of Magnetorheological Capabilities, SRCEE-2007.