Maurice Collins BSc MSc PhD
Research Fellow

e: maurice.collins@ul.ie

t: +353-61-202203

Dr Maurice N. Collins is a Research Fellow at the Stokes Institute. Currently, he is investigating factors affecting the reliability of lead free solder, in addition to developing soldering fluxes and biomaterials.  Dr Collins has a strong track record in attracting industrial funding and in managing research partnerships with large industrial partners on these topics. Maurice lectures polymer science and polymer processing to third-year and postgraduate students. He has authored over 30 publications relating to the reliability of lead free solder and the development of biomedical polymers.  In 2011, he has supervised two MSc students to completion. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Growth Factors, Journal of Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine, Polymer Engineering & Science and Carbohydrate Polymers and is a member of the Surface Mount Technology Association International and the European Society for Biomaterials. He has been using the Synchrotron facilities at Diamond Lightsource UK to shed light on key factors which will improve the lifetime of implant materials.

Education: BSc in Materials Science, MSc in Polymer Science and a PhD from UL.

Research interests: Material structure property relationships; Crystallography; synthetic and natural polymers for medical applications; reliability physics; lead-free solder; corrosion

Sample publications:

Maurice N. Collins, Jeff Punch, Richard Coyle, Michael Reid, Richard Popowich, Peter Read and Debra Fleming, “Thermal Fatigue and Failure Analysis of SnAgCu Solder Alloys with Minor Pb Additions” accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies.

Maurice N. Collins and Colin Birkinshaw (2011), “Morphology of Crosslinked Hyaluronic Acid Porous Hydrogels” Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol 120, issue 2, pages 1040 – 1049. 

K. Hannigan, M. Reid, M.N. Collins, E. Dalton, C. Xu, B. Wright, K. Demirkan, R. L. Opila, W.D. Reents, Jr., J.P. Franey, D.A. Fleming, and J. Punch, “Corrosion of RoHS Compliant Surface Finishes in Corrosive Mixed Flowing Gas Environment” Journal of Electronic Materials (under review).

Michael Reid, Maurice N. Collins, Eric Dalton, Jeff Punch and David A. Tanner, "Testing Method for Measuring Corrosion Resistance of Surface Mount Chip Resistors", Microelectronics Reliability (under review).

M. Reid,  M.N. Collins, E. Dalton, G. Grace, K. Shannon and L. F. Garfias-Mesias, “The Effect of Different Barrier Layers on Corrosion of Connectors with Flash Gold Finish” Surface and Coatings Technology (under review).

Richard Coyle, John Osenbach, Maurice Collins, Heather McCormick, Peter Read, Debra Fleming, Richard Popowich, Jeff Punch, Michael Reid, and Steven Kummerl (2011), “A Phenomenological Study of the Effect of Microstructural Evolution on the Thermal Fatigue Resistance of Pb-free Solder Joints” accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies.

L. Zhao, M. N. Collins & C. Birkinshaw (2009), “Development of the Powder Reaction Injection Moulding Engineering Process” Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, 84, pages 454-460.

M. Reid, J. Punch, M. Collins and C. Ryan (2008), “Effect of Ag Content on the Microstructural of Sn-Ag-Cu Based Solder Alloy” Soldering and Surface Mount Technology, vol 20, (4), pages 3-8.

Maurice N. Collins and Colin Birkinshaw (2008), “Physical properties of crosslinked Hyaluronic acid Hydrogels” Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, vol 19, (11), pages 3335-3343.

D. Barron, M. Collins, M.J. Flannery, J.J. Leahy and C. Birkinshaw (2008), “Crystal Ageing in Irradiated Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene” Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, vol 19, (6), pages 2293-2299.

M. Collins & C. Birkinshaw (2008), “Investigation of the Swelling Behaviour of Crosslinked Hyaluronic Acid Films and Hydro-Gels Produced Using Homogeneous Reactions”, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol 109, issue 2, pages 923-931.

M. Collins & C. Birkinshaw (2007), "Comparison of the Effectiveness of Four Crosslinkers with Hyaluronic Acid for Tissue Culture Applications", Journal of Applied Polymer Science, vol 104 issue 5 pages 3183-3191.