Dr Raymond Neff

Dr Raymond Neff

Senior Research Fellow
  • PhD, Chemical Engineering (University of Minnesota, USA)
  • BS, Chemical Engineering (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)
Medicine & Health
School of Biomedical Sciences

Dr. Raymond Neff is a Senior Research Associate in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, working in the ARC Training Center for Fire Retardant Materials and Safety Technologies.  His current roles include supervising and conducting research into sustainable flame resistant materials, firefighting chemicals and gas sensing nanotechnology, in addition to coordinating projects between UNSW and Flame Security International.  Dr. Neff received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1995.  After two years as a NRC Postdoctoral Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, MD, USA), he joined BASF Corporation (Wyandotte, MI, USA) in 1997 as a Senior Research Scientist, where he conducted basic research and product development for polyurethanes.  He joined UNSW in February 2020.

  • Book Chapters | 2018
    Neff R; Gajewski A, 2018, '6. Renewable building blocks for polyurethanes', in Green Chemistry in Industry, De Gruyter, pp. 69 - 82, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110562781-006
    Book Chapters | 2018
    Neff R; Gajewski A, 2018, 'Renewable building blocks for polyurethanes', in Green Chemistry in Industry, pp. 69 - 82, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110562781-006
    Book Chapters | 2004
    Zhang XD; Neff RA; Macosko CW, 2004, 'Foam stability in flexible polyurethane foam systems', in Polymeric Foams: Mechanisms and Materials, pp. 139 - 172
  • Journal articles | 2022
    Cai S; Allioux FM; Tang J; Han J; Zhang J; He Y; Merhebi S; Christoe MJ; Mayyas M; Wong EHH; Boyer C; Neff R; Kalantar-Zadeh K, 2022, 'Soft Liquid Metal Infused Conductive Sponges', Advanced Materials Technologies, 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/admt.202101500
    Journal articles | 2019
    Neff R; Gajewski A, 2019, 'Renewable building blocks for polyurethanes', Physical Sciences Reviews, 3, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/psr-2017-0193
    Journal articles | 2003
    Rath A; Apichatachutapan W; Gummaraju R; Neff R; Heyman D, 2003, 'Effect of average particle size and distribution on the performance of copolymer polyols', Journal of Cellular Plastics, 39, pp. 387 - 415, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021955X03034775
    Journal articles | 1999
    Neff RA; Marsalkó TM, 1999, 'Roles of conventional polyol and isocyanate in humid aging and durability of molded seating foam', Journal of Cellular Plastics, 35, pp. 492 - 513, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021955X9903500602
    Journal articles | 1998
    Neff R; Adedeji A; Macosko CW; Ryan AJ, 1998, 'Urea hard segment morphology in flexible polyurethane foam', Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics, 36, pp. 573 - 581, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0488(199803)36:4<573::AID-POLB4>3.0.CO;2-Q
    Journal articles | 1997
    Neff RA; Woerdeman DL; Parnas RS, 1997, 'Use of a charged coupled device (CCD) camera for evanescent wave optical fiber cure monitoring of liquid composite molding resins', Polymer Composites, 18, pp. 518 - 525, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pc.10304
    Journal articles | 1996
    Neff RA; Macosko CW, 1996, 'Simultaneous measurement of viscoelastic changes and cell opening during processing of flexible polyurethane foam', Rheologica Acta, 35, pp. 656 - 666, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00396514
    Journal articles | 1996
    Yasunaga K; Neff RA; Zhang XD; Macosko CW, 1996, 'Study of cell opening in flexible polyurethane foam', Journal of Cellular Plastics, 32, pp. 427 - 447, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021955x9603200502
  • Conference Papers | 1998
    Parnas RS; Dunkers JP; Neff RA, 1998, 'Monitoring composites with optical fiber sensor systems', in Annual Technical Conference - ANTEC, Conference Proceedings, pp. 2351 - 2355

Currently I supervise and conduct research into sustainable flame resistant materials, firefighting products and gas sensing nanotechnology.  The flame resistant materials include flexible polyurethane foam for comfort applications, coatings and membranes to protect flammable building cladding and timber, and treatments for textiles.  Firefighting products are primarily used to protect structures from bushfires, either through direct application of the product to the structure or to the surrounding vegetation.  The gas sensors have broad application to detect emission from fire, toxic materials or explosives.

As a Senior Research Scientist at BASF, I conducted basic research and product development in polyurethanes, including flexible foam, elastomers, fertilizer coatings and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).