Charles R. Hegedus, of Air Products and Chemicals, named 2003 FSCT Mattiello Memorial Lecturer

Citation

(2003), "Charles R. Hegedus, of Air Products and Chemicals, named 2003 FSCT Mattiello Memorial Lecturer", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 50 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2003.12850cab.010

Charles R. Hegedus, of Air Products and Chemicals, named 2003 FSCT Mattiello Memorial Lecturer

Charles R. Hegedus, of Air Products and Chemicals, named 2003 FSCT Mattiello Memorial Lecturer

The Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology is pleased to announce that Dr Charles R. Hegedus, Materials Scientist Research Associate, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., will present the Joseph J. Mattiello Memorial Lecture during the organization's 81st Annual Meeting, 12-14 November 2003. The Annual meeting will take place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, in Philadelphia, PA in conjunction with the International Coatings Expo and the International Coatings Technology Conference.

The 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 field. He was the vice president and technical director of Hilo Varnish Corporation, Brooklyn, NY, when he died in 1948.

The lecturer, chosen from among those who have made outstanding contributions to science, is selected to present a paper on a phase of chemistry, engineering, human relationships, or other sciences fundamental to paint, varnish, lacquer, or related protective or decorative coatings.

Educational and professional background

Dr Hegedus obtained a BS in Chemical Engineering, and MS and PhD degrees in Materials Engineering from Drexel University. Performing his doctoral studies under Professor Ihab Kamel, he investigated chemical interactions between pigment particles and polymers using inverse gas chromatography, flow calorimetry, rheology characterization, and pigment packing modelling. He related these findings to explain mechanical property effects in applied coating systems.

From 1976 to 1993, Dr Hegedus worked in the Aerospace Materials Division of the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in Warminster, PA. During the latter 7 years of this period, he was the Leader of the Protective Coatings Group where he developed coatings to be used on naval aircraft and other military equipment for corrosion prevention and detection/weapon countermeasures. Dr Hegedus performed fundamental research on organic coating structure, property and performance relationships as well as investigating and resolving corrosion problems and coatings failures in the field. Probably his most significant accomplishment in the field of corrosion prevention was the development of UNICOAT, a self-priming topcoat for high performance applications. This material was one of the first corrosion preventive coating systems for aluminium that did not contain chromated inhibitors. In addition, it demonstrated the benefits of multi-functional coatings, which eliminate the need for multi-coat systems, thus reducing emissions, expense, and weight. This invention and its implementation garnered him the Office of Naval Technology's Exploratory Development Award and the US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator's Award for Pollution Prevention.

In 1988, Dr Hegedus was honoured with NADC's Outstanding Science and Engineering Award. Dr Hegedus also received the Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology Corrosion Publication Award in 1993 for his work in the area of coatings characterization and property analysis.

In 1993, Dr Hegedus joined Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA. Since that time, he has worked in various research and development groups within the Performance Chemicals Division. He is responsible for research and development of polymers and other raw materials for coatings applications, most specifically waterborne polyurethanes, epoxy curing agents and resins, and most recently polyvinyl acetate- ethylene copolymers. He has done work in the area of film formation of waterborne polyurethane coatings and for this, earned an FSCT Roon Award in 1995. More recently, Dr Hegedus has worked with Fritz Walker, Frank Pepe, John Dickenson, and Renee Keller to develop novel epoxy-water copolymers. They were the recipients of an FSCT Roon Award in 2001 for the publication of this research.

Industry contributions

Author of over 65 papers and publications, Dr Hegedus holds 20 patents on coatings related topics. In addition to contributions stemming from his research and development, he has served on a number of industry-related committees. He has served as the Corrosion Committee Chairman for the FSCT. Dr Hegedus currently is the Chair of the FSCT Publications Committee and serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Coatings Technology. He has been a course lecturer for FSCT, ASM International, the National Association for Corrosion Engineers, and Drexel University. Dr Hegedus is a member of the Philadelphia Society for Coatings Technology, The Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC), and the American Chemical Society Division of Polymer Science and Materials.