Lisa Lallo

Dr. Lallo's expertise is in understanding how materials used in a variety of industries from manufacturing, rail, and chemical to consumer products and biomedical devices wear, deteriorate over time in harsh environments, and then in some cases fail. Her education and professional experience involve the overlap of physics, mechanical engineering, and materials science.  

As a result of being immersed in a number of manufacturing environments, Dr. Lallo has also developed a significant expertise in machine operation safeguarding and related areas of occupational safety.

Industrial 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. As examples, she has investigated accidents involving industrial lathes, automated pickers, gantry systems, forklifts, and scissor lifts. As a certified forklift operator and a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity since 2008, Dr. Lallo has hands-on construction and jobsite experience.

Friction and Wear Degradation of Industrial 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.

Analysis of Material Failures in Manufacturing, Process, Consumer Product and Biomedical Device Industries

Dr. Lallo uses her interdisciplinary background to assist in root cause failure analysis investigations that span a variety of industries. Dr. Lallo has worked on root cause analyses for composite structure failures and explosions, wear and fretting of electrical and biomedical components, and industrial equipment collapses. Her investigations have included composite hydrogen tank explosions, offshore crane bearing failures, gantry robot collapses, corrosion of railcars, wear and corrosion of shoulder and spine implants, and wear and fretting of electrical terminal connections.

Experimental Mechanical Testing Capabilities

Dr. Lallo has expertise in both custom and standardized testing to evaluate consumer products and medical devices. 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.