Lawrence J. Broutman has developed techniques for the analysis and characterization of polymer materials that have spurred further research and generated innovations, in both fiber-reinforced and unreinforced plastics.

Broutman is a research professor at Illinois Institute of Technology’s Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, and a consultant to Bodycote Broutman Laboratories.

Broutman has written nearly 170 technical publications, co-authored two textbooks on polymer composites and edited nine reference books. He holds four patents.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he pioneered the study of the interface strength between a fiber and a polymer matrix. Broutman also pioneered the use of scanning electron microscopes to examine the structure and failure modes of glass fiber reinforced plastics. He built an early impact instrument to test glass and graphite laminates.

Broutman served as President of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) in 1977. He was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 2012.