Lisa Lallo

Dr. Lallo's expertise is in understanding the mechanical integrity and evaluating failure modes of complex material systems found in a variety of industries including manufacturing, consumer products, sports and fitness, and medical device and pharmaceuticals.  Dr. Lallo's education and professional experience involve the overlap of physics, mechanical engineering, and materials science.  Dr. Lallo is studying to become a Certified Packaging Professional and places specific emphasis in her career on packaging related professional development and technical committee participation.  As a result of being immersed in a number of manufacturing environments, Dr. Lallo has also developed a significant expertise in machinery and industrial equipment operation, safeguarding, and related areas of occupational safety.    

Packaging Machinery, Integrity, and Performance

Dr. Lallo is well versed in the packaging space, spanning from the design, installation, and function of packaging machinery to the integrity of packaging systems throughout their total lifecycle.  Dr. Lallo has analyzed and assessed packaging machinery performance in food and beverage manufacturing settings and has evaluated packaging systems containing corrugates, cardboard, paper based solutions, cans, bottles, pouches, cartons, and palletized unit loads, among others.  She also has expertise in conducting packaging integrity and gap assessments for medical device and pharmaceutical packaging systems, including trays, vials, pouches, cartons, and shippers.  

Industrial Equipment and Occupational Safety 

Given Dr. Lallo's experience in a number of manufacturing settings, she investigates machine safeguarding and other workplace safety issues, such as lock-out / tag-out and the use of both administrative and engineering controls to reduce residual risk of machine operation.  Dr. Lallo is well-versed in numerous machine-related ANSI standards and OSHA regulations.  Dr. Lallo has investigated machine guarding and hand tool matters related to cardboard compactors, lathes, wood chippers, snow blowers, food machinery, presses and bending machines, angle grinders, and nail guns.

Dr. Lallo also has broad experience evaluating accidents involving industrial vehicles and equipment.  As examples, she has investigated lift trucks, excavators, dump trucks, mining equipment, garage doors, and accidents with automated pickers and gantry systems.  As a certified forklift operator and a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, Dr. Lallo has hands-on construction and jobsite experience.  

Friction, Wear, and Mechanical Integrity of Materials 

Dr. Lallo investigates the role of tribology (friction, wear, adhesion, and lubrication) on the failure of systems with interacting components or sliding surfaces.  Dr. Lallo has investigated the failures of bearings, fasteners, and brake systems.  She also investigates the wear of medical devices for product development, including assessments for wear and corrosion of orthopedic implants.  Dr. Lallo also has extensive experience evaluating coating systems, including those composed of Diamond Like Carbon, Titanium Nitride, Hydroxyapatite, and Titanium Plasma Sprays.  

Mechanical Integrity and Stability of Furniture and Sports and Fitness equipment.

Dr. Lallo has investigated the mechanical integrity of stability of both home and commercial furniture including desks, desk chairs, office chairs, dressers, and stadium chairs.  She has also investigated shelving and racking systems in big box and small box stores and warehouses, including specific experience with pallet racks, cantilever racks, end caps, and gondola shelving. 

Within the sports and fitness industry, Dr. Lallo has experience with the mechanical performance of team sports equipment, personal exercise equipment, padding, and water sport equipment.  Often times, these matters involve assessments of fastener components.

Experimental Mechanical Testing Capabilities 

Dr. Lallo has expertise in both custom and standardized testing to evaluate products.  Dr. Lallo routinely uses electromechanical, electrodynamic, and servohydraulic load frames to understand material properties, including coefficient of friction, strength, stiffness, and adhesion.  She also investigates fracture, wear, and fatigue behavior of polymeric and composite materials.  Dr. Lallo uses various characterization techniques to look at surfaces and material microstructure.  These techniques include optical microscopy, polarized light microscopy, profilometry, white light interferometry, atomic force microscopy, nanoindentation, CT scanning, and scanning electron microscopy.  

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Lallo completed her doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked in collaboration with the USDA Forest Products Laboratory to develop, manufacture, and characterize transparent, biodegradable, stiff, and tough sheets of nanocellulose.  These materials serve as a potential natural and biodegradable alternative to current plastics in the pulp and paper and packaging industries.