Pierre Carreau
Polytechnique Montréal
1939 – Present
Chemical Engineer
Fellow, Elected 2016
Pierre Carreau is Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. Professor Carreau received a B.A.Sc. in 1963 from Ecole Polytechnique, an M.Sc.A. in 1965
from Ecole Polytechnique, and a Ph.D. in 1968 from the University of Wisconsin, all in Chemical Engineering. His career began in 1968 at Ecole Polytechnique, where he has held several positions,
including Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering, as well as Founder and Director of both the Applied Research Center on Polymers and the Applied Research Center on Polymers and Composites.
Professor Carreau is well-known for his research work on the rheology of polymer melt systems especially, and he seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice, translating complex molecular
theories into useful results for industry. His best-known work on rheological equations and conformation models for polymer melts are considered benchmarks in polymer engineering. The widely-used
Carreau viscosity model is a part of most software packages for the simulation of flow processing. His work on mixing polymers with helical ribbon agitators is highly recognized and has been used
to design large, high performance, economical industrial reactors in the U.S. and in Asia. Professor Carreau has developed rheological methods for the characterization of complex multiphase polymer
systems, including polymer blends, fiber-filled polymer composites, and polymer nanocomposites. One well-known example is his proposed original rheological method for predicting morphological changes
and phase inversion in immiscible polymers. In recent research, he has shown that the development of crystalline structures during the extrusion of polypropylene resins is controlled by their
rheological properties. This has led to the development of high-performance polymeric membranes by controlling the extrusion process and potentially leading to a major break-through in the fabrication
of novel membranes for various applications, such as battery separators. Professor Carreau has published over 250 scientific papers on the rheology of polymers. He has co-authored two books: Polymer
Processing: Basic Principles and Modeling and Rheology of Polymeric Systems: Principles and Applications. Professor Carreau has served as the president of the Canadian Society for Chemical
Engineers, the Canadian Group of Rheology, and the Société Québécoise des Polymères. He has served on the editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, the Journal of
Rheology, and Chemical Engineering Communications. Professor Carreau has received many honors and awards, including a doctorate honoris causa in 1989 from the University of Joseph
Fourier of Grenoble in recognition of his contributions to polymer rheology, the S.G. Mason Award of the Canadian Rheology Group in 1994 for outstanding contributions to the field of rheology, and
the Society of Plastics Engineers 2007 Research Award for outstanding contributions to the field of polymer processing. He was appointed a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1989, Fellow
of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2001, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2006.