Dr. Paul Spencer
Associate Professor
- Area
- School of EngineeringFaculty of Eng & Digital Technologies
- Phone

Biography
Dr Paul Spencer joined the IRC Polymer Engineering Laboratories in 2005, having previously worked in the Mechanics of Materials Group at Leicester University. His background is in Computational Solid State Physics, gaining his PhD from Loughborough University. Recently he has been working on a variety of academic and industrially-led research projects involving experimental and Finite Element investigations of polymeric materials at large deformations.
Research
Publications
Book chapter (1)
Modelling of Polymer Clay Nanocomposites for a Multiscale Approach
Spencer PE, Sweeney J (2009) Nano- and micromechanics of polymer blends and composites Hanser. In J Karger-Kocsis, S Fakirov editor(s) Hanser.
Conference publication (3)
The use of a new viscous process in constitutive models of polymers
Sweeney J.;Spencer P. (2015) Key Engineering Materials. 651-653, 812-817.
Development of a constitutive model of polypropylene for thermoforming
O'Connor C.;Martin P.;Menary G.;Sweeney J.;Caton-Rose P.;Spencer P. (2011) AIP Conference Proceedings. 1353, 874-879.
The large strain response of polypropylene in multiaxial stretching and stress relaxation
Sweeney J.;Caton-Rose P.;Spencer P.;O'Conner C.;Martin P.;Menary G. (2011) AIP Conference Proceedings. 1353, 850-855.
Peer reviewed journal (20)
Chain-Extendable Crosslinked Hydrogels Using Branching RAFT Modification
Stephen Rimmer, Paul Spencer, Davide Nocita, John Sweeney, Marcus Harrison and Thomas Swift (2023) Gels (Basel, Switzerland). 9
Solid State Orientation of Thermoplastic Vulcanizates
Innes J.R.;Shriky B.;Spencer P.;Allan S.;Thompson G.;Wang X.;Coates P.;Whiteside B.;Benkreira H.;Caton-Rose P.;Lu C.;Wang Q.;Kelly A. (2022) Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. 307
Constitutive Modelling of Polylactic Acid at Large Deformation Using Multiaxial Strains.
Sweeney J;Spencer P;Thompson G;Barker D;Coates P; (2021) Polymers. 13
Breakage of carbon nanotube agglomerates within polypropylene matrix by solid phase die drawing
Lin X.;Gong M.;Innes J.;Spencer P.;Coates P.;Korde S. (2020) Journal of Applied Polymer Science.
Highly improved PP/CNTs sheet prepared by tailoring crystallization morphology through solid-phase die drawing and multilayer hot compression
Lin X.;Spencer P.;Gong M.;Coates P. (2020) Polymer Crystallization. 3
Modelling the Mechanical and Strain Recovery Behaviour of Partially Crystalline PLA.
Sweeney J;Spencer P;Nair K;Coates P; (2019) Polymers. 11
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Emerging Challenges, Opportunities, and Agenda for Research, Practice and Policy
Dwivedi, Y., Hughes, L., Ismagilova, E., Aarts, G., Coombs, C., Crick, T., Duan, Yanqing, Dwivedi, R., Edwards, J., Eirug, A., Galanos, V., Ilavarasan, P.V., Janssen, M., Jones, P., Kar, A.K., Kizgin, H., Kronemann, B., Lal., B., Medaglia, R., Le Meunier-Fitzhugh, K., Le Meunier-Fitzhugh, L.C., Misra, S., Mogaji, E., Sharma, S.K., Singh, J.B., Raghavan, V., Raman, R., Rana, N.P., Samathrakis, S., Spencer, S., Tamilmani, K., Tubadji, A., Walton, P., Williams, M.D. (2019) International Journal of Information Management. 1, 4-97.
Nanoindentation analysis of oriented polypropylene: Influence of elastic properties in tension and compression
Vgenopoulos, D.; Sweeney, John; Grant, Colin A.; Thompson, Glen P.; Spencer, Paul E.; Caton-Rose, Philip D.; Coates, Philip D. (2018) Polymer. 151, 197-207.
Application of activated barrier hopping theory to viscoplastic modeling of glassy polymers
Sweeney, John; Spencer, Paul E.; Vgenopoulos, Dimitrios; Babenko, Maksims; Boutenel, F.; Caton-Rose, Philip D.; Coates, Philip D. (2018) Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials. 22, 145-165.
Micro-contact reconstruction of adjacent carbon nanotubes in polymer matrix through annealing-Induced relaxation of interfacial residual stress and strain
Li, D.;Fei, G.;Xia, H.;Spencer, P.E.;Coates, P.D.; (2015) Journal of Applied Polymer Science.
Micro-contact reconstruction of adjacent carbon nanotubes in polymer matrix through annealing-Induced relaxation of interfacial residual stress and strain
Li, Dongxu; Fei, G.; Xia, H.; Spencer, Paul E.; Coates, Philip D. (2015)
The use of a new viscous process in constitutive models of polymers
Sweeney, John; Spencer, Paul E. (2015)
The large strain response of polypropylene in multiaxial stretching and stress relaxation
Sweeney, John; Caton-Rose, Philip D.; Spencer, Paul E.; Pua, H.; O'Connor, C.P.J.; Martin, P.J.; Menary, G. (2013)
Simulation of the plug-assisted thermoforming of polypropylene using a large strain thermally coupled constitutive model
O'Connor, C.P.J.; Martin, P.J.; Sweeney, John; Menary, G.; Caton-Rose, Philip D.; Spencer, Paul E. (2013)
A material model for multiaxial stretching and stress relaxation of polypropylene under process conditions
Sweeney J.;O'Connor C.;Spencer P.;Pua H.;Caton-Rose P.;Martin P. (2012) Mechanics of Materials. 54, 55-69.
Modelling the large strain solid phase deformation behaviour of polymer nanoclay composites
Spencer P.;Spares R.;Sweeney J.;Coates P. (2008) Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials. 12, 313-327.
Performance enhancement of polymer nanocomposites via multiscale modelling of processing and properties
Harkin-Jones, E.;Figiel, L.;Spencer, P.;Abu-Zurayk, R.;Al-Shabib, W.;Chan, V.;Rajeev, R.;Soon, K.;Buckley, P.;Sweeney, J.;Menary, G.;Armstrong, C.;Assender, H.;Coates, P.;Dunne, F.;McNally, T.;Martin, P.; (2008) Plastics, Rubber and Composites.
Modelling of polymer clay nanocomposites for a multiscale approach.
Spencer, Paul E.; Sweeney, John (2008)
Effect of electron-phonon interaction range on lattice polaron dynamics: A continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo study
Spencer P.E.;Samson J.H.;Kornilovitch P.E.;Alexandrov A.S. (2005) Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 71
A hybrid continuum/kinetic Monte Carlo model for surface diffusion
Gill S.;Spencer P.;Cocks A. (2004) Materials Science & Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing. 365, 66-72.