Thanks you for visiting JonathanTuck.com. This site attempts to serve a number of purposes, its main aim being to offer an overview of the projects and work that I’ve been involved in, and to provide the opportunity for anyone who’s interested to ask my advice on anything they need some help with. I can’t promise that I’ll be able to answer all questions, but often if I’m unsure about something, I’ll know someone else who can help.
My passion is with niche cutting edge Materials technologies, particularly within the fields of coatings and thin-films, metals and metallurgy, ceramics and surface engineering, and applied to a wide range of industrial sectors including fuel cells, semi-conductors, friction stir welding, precious and refractory metals, and other niche products and industries.
Having achieved my first journal paper and patent during my first degree, completed my Doctorate degree at the University of Oxford, and then published further patents and papers in every field that I’ve worked, I feel that I’ve racked up a pretty reasonable proven track record of success since around the mid 90′s.
In support of that, and having decided that I didn’t understand the commercial side of operations well enough, I invested in an intensive MBA. This saw me working closely with small to medium sized businesses across the board and among other things became Interim Financial Director and Joint MD for a million pound turn-over Internet business. Here I delivered margins of 45 – 52% for the duration.
My specialist disciplines are Coatings and Thin Films and Surface Engineering, particularly Metals and Ceramics, Proton Exchange Membranes for Fuel Cells, and Refractory Metals for high temperature and high corrosion resistance applications. Equally, I also have a broad knowledge of Composites and Polymers alike.
I’ve worked on projects including Piezoelectric Paint, a novel strain transducer, Design of Coated Systems, Composite Membrane for PEM Fuel Cells, Optimisation of Refractory Metal Coating Techniques, Friction Stir Welding, Wire Cutting of Molybdenum Disks, PVD and CVD coating techniques, Thermal Management devices, Metal Matrix Composite devices, Plasma Etching, Glass Melting Electrodes, Chemical Processing Plant, Welding of Titanium, Structural Integrity of the Eclipse Airliner, to name but a few.
I’m Social Secretary for the South Wales and Western Polymer Group (SWWPG) and sit on the committee for the Energy Materials Group (EMG), each part of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IoM3). I’ve worked extensively with The Welding Institute, Edisons Welding Institute, and various Academic establishments, and have travelled extensively for business throughout the US and mainland Europe. As UK R&D Manager for HC Starck I reported directly to the MD in the UK, my Technical report was in Germany and my R&D Director and core R&D team were in Boston in the US – so I’m pretty accustomed to integrated business cultures.
Again, feel free to let me know if you have any comments or questions and I’ll be happy to help where I can.
