Melvin Mooney

United States Rubber Company

1893 – 1968

Industrial Polymer Rheologist

Awarded Bingham Medal 1948
President 1936-1939

Dr. Melvin Mooney received his BA in 1917 from the University of Missouri and his PhD in physics from the University of Chicago in 1923. He was an Industrial Polymer Rheologist who laid the foundations for studying wall slip in polymer melts and rubbers, local velocity measurements, vulcanized rubber elasticity, and the instrumentation necessary for determining quality control. He was the first person from the rubber industry to join The Society of Rheology (being listed as a member since 1930) and was eventually elected President of the Society.

Mooney developed the Mooney Viscometer, which determines the single point “Mooney viscosity” (the viscosity index) of rubbers. He along with Ewart also were the first to introduce the coni-cylindrical rheometer fixture (to correct for end effects and help ensure a homogeneous deformation field in cylindrical Couette flow) for use with non-Newtonian liquids. Later in life, he focused on developing a theory of non-Newtonian flow based on large strain elasticity theory and the concept of a recoverable elastic strain. He also used polymer chain networks to model flow and developed the idea of super-molecular rheological units together with W. E. Wolstenholme. After his death, the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division (RUBB), named an award for him, called the “Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award” (Award Description and Award Recipients), that honors someone who is a part of (or affiliated with) the Rubber Division and has exhibited technical competence by making significant and repeated contributions to rubber technology.

Mooney received the first Bingham Medal which was presented to him in 1948 by SOR President J. H. Dillon. In Dillon’s presentation speech, he mentions how Mooney was proficient in both experimental and theoretical science. Mooney was the first to develop a three-dimensional theory for nonlinear rubber elasticity and his framework remains the standard format in which experimental measurements of elastic stress vs. strain at large extensions are presented. In Dillon’s Oral History, he recalls that Mooney lost the medal the night it was given to him and another had to be recast.

Sources

Determination of Viscosity and Scorch (DIN 53 523, ASTM D 1646, ISO 289). Go to link (accessed June 28, 2018).

Mooney-Viscosity Measurements According to ISO 289-1. Go to link (accessed June 28, 2018).

Interview of John Henry Dillon by R. S. Marvin on 21 March 1979. Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA. Go to link.

White, J. L. The First and Best Industrial Polymer Rheologist – Melvin Mooney (1893 – 1968). International Polymer Processing 2002, XVII, 20. Go to link.

Photo Credit

Mooney Melvin A2, AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.