Dr. Crisan Popescu received his degree in chemical engineering / textile chemistry from Shanghai Textile Engineering Institute (now Donghua University) and PhD degree in physical chemistry from the University of Bucharest. He worked in textile industry, textile research and academia as professor of textile chemistry. Sponsored by German Academic Grants (DAAD) and German cosmetic industry during 1990s he spent several short spells at The German Wool Research Institute (now DWI Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials) in Aachen. Later on, he joined the Institute and worked, as a project leader for keratin related projects (wool and hair cosmetics), for 15 years, then moving to hair care industry as a Senior Research Scientists with Kao Germany GmbH.

Dr. Popescu acted as Chairman of the “Product Group” of the International Wool Textile Organization, IWTO (2010 – 2015) and serves as Chairman of the Scientific Commission of International Confederation of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, ICTAC (since 2012). He was member of the organizing committees for several international conferences on thermal analysis, textiles, and hair, and delivered over 50 invited presentations.

His 160 published papers covers the areas of his scientific interest which span from kinetics of heterogeneous processes and dyeing and finishing textile fibres to physics of polymers and bio-polymers with a focus on keratin.

Currently, Dr. Popescu is working in hair research and in non-isothermal kinetics, and as a consultant for hair care industry and wool industry.

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Publications

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C. Popescu (2018). The Thermodynamics of Trichocyte Keratins, in: The Hair Fibre: Proteins, Structure and Development (Eds. J. E. Plowman, D. P. Harland and S. Deb-Choudhury), Springer-Verlag.

 

C. Popescu (2012). Hair Damage, in: Practical Modern Hair Science (Eds. R. Wickett and T. Evans), Allured Books

 

M. Moeller and C. Popescu (2012). Natural fibers, in: Comprehensive Polymer Science (Eds. K. Matyjaszewski and M. Moeller), Elsevier.

 

H. Kuffner and C. Popescu (2012). Wool fibres, in: Handbook of Natural Fibres: Types, properties and factors affecting breeding and cultivation (Ed. R. Kozlowski), Woodhead Publishing Series in Textiles.

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Selection of Recent Papers

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S. Breakspear, B. Noecker and C. Popescu, Relevance and evaluation of hydrogen and disulfide bond contribution to the mechanics of hard alpha-keratin fibres. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b01690

S. Breakspear, B. Noecker and C. Popescu, Hair Mechanical Anisotropy—What Does It Tell Us?

Journal of Cosmetic Science, 69 (2018) 305-314.

F. J. Wortmann, G. Wortmann and C. Popescu, Kinetics of the changes imparted to the main structural components of human hair by thermal treatment. Thermochimica Acta, 661 (2018) 78-83.

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M. Kadir, X. Wang, B. Zhu, J. Liu, D. Harland and C. Popescu, The structure of the “amorphous” matrix of keratins. Journal of Structural Biology, 198 (2017) 116-123.

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D. Istrate, M. Er Rafik, C. Popescu, D. E. Demco, L. Tsarkova and F.-J. Wortmann, Keratin made micro-tubes: The paradoxical thermal behavior of cortex and cuticle. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 89 (2016) 592–598.

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C. Popescu and C. Gummer, DSC of human hair: a tool for claim support or incorrect data analysis?
International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 38 (2016) 433–439.

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C. Popescu, P. Augustin and F. J. Wortmann, The desorption of moisture from wool. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 120 (2015) 113-117.

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C. Popescu, Hidden Hair Damage and the Importance of Multiple Tests. Cosmetics & Toiletries, 130(5), 2015.

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D. Istrate, C. Popescu, M. Er Rafik and M. Moeller. The effect of pH on the thermal stability of fibrous hard alpha-keratins. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 98 (2013) 542-549.
 
Q. Zhang, B. Liebeck, K. Yan, D. E. Demco, A. Koerner and C. Popescu, Alpha-Helix Self-Assembly of Oligopeptides Originated From Beta-Sheet Keratin. Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics, 213 (2012) 2628-2638.

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S. Vyazovkin, A. K. Burnham, J. M. Criado, L. A. Pérez-Maqueda, C. Popescu and N. Sbirrazzuoli, ICTAC Kinetics Committee recommendations for performing kinetic computations on thermal analysis data. Thermochimica Acta, 520 (2011) 1–19.