Job Posting: ModioInfo Narrator – ACS Rubber Division

 

Job Description: Modio Information Group is partnering with The American Chemical Society – Rubber Division, a leading source of educational content for the elastomer community, to convert its training publications to a word-for-word, human-narrated audio format, allowing busy practitioners to consume the underlying material without forgoing premium office time.

We are seeking graduate STEM students to narrate the articles. Applicants must be articulate with excellent oral reading skills, reliable, punctual, detail-oriented and extremely conscientious. All work may be completed part-time from home, with minimal time commitment.

 In addition to their compensation, the selected narrators will gain prominent exposure to rubber, polymer and related professionals, (i.e. potential employers) in the United States and globally, through Modio’s proprietary audio platform / app. On each of their audio recordings narrators identify themselves by name, school and graduation year as described below. Additionally, our proprietary app accompanies each audio article with the narrators’ email address and LinkedIn profile. The selected narrators also enhance their education with access to the best content in their field, and are compensated at a rate of $60 per hour of audio content.

To apply, please e-mail a) your resume and b) a sample audio narration of the sample content below using the Voice Memos app on your iPhone or similar app such as Evernote on your Android phone, to narrators@modioinfo.com.  In the subject line, please write “Application: ModioInfo Narrator – ACS Rubber Division”. Please feel free to email us any questions as well.

 

The deadline for applying is Monday, June 2, 2025.

 

Sample Content

 

Chapter 5: PROCESSING METHODS IN THE RUBBER INDUSTRY

Written By: PETER S. JOHNSON

Edited By: KRISHNA C. BARANWAL and HOWARD L. STEPHENS

Narrated By: [Your Full Name], [Your School], “Class of” [Graduation Year]

Basic Elastomer Technology, First Edition.

 

I. INTRODUCTION

Raw rubber as received from the manufacturer, or from the plantation in the case of natural rubber, has few uses as such. It has to be mixed with various compounding ingredients, shaped, and vulcanized to give a useable end product. These three components, mixing, shaping, and curing, together, constitute rubber processing.

Mixing is central to rubber processing. If the base compound is inadequately
mixed, problems cascade down through the subsequent processes or shaping and curing into the end product. There are three general shaping processes: extrusion, calendering and molding-compression, transfer, or injection type.

Rubber is a difficult material to process because it has both viscous and elastic properties. But, even more than this, because of the infinite variety of possible compounds that can be prepared from any grade of rubber, it is difficult to predict mixing, molding, or extrusion behavior of a compound based on the properties of the raw rubber alone. Depending on the type and quantity of carbon black, plasticizer, other fillers, etc. used, the resulting compound may be difficult, or easy, to mix, shape, and cure. However, a compound is formulated, first and foremost, to meet end-application requirements, not merely to process well. The processing plant has to adjust its process to suit the compound, not the other way around. However, it is of no value to present the plant with a compound impossible to mix or process. Therefore, there has to be an integration between the compound, process and product, involving extensive cooperation between compounder, mixer, and processor.

 

II. RUBBER MIXING

A. OVERVIEW OF MIXING

Mixing can be subdivided into three steps:

1. Feeding the ingredients to the mixer in the correct quantities, at the correct times, and at the correct temperatures.

2. The actual mixing of the ingredients.

3. Discharge of the mixed compound from the mixer, and its shaping, cooling, and packing for the next process.

The single most important aspect of mixing is consistency: consistency in type, quality, and quantity of ingredients; consistency in temperatures, speeds, and pressure; consistency in ingredient addition times, mixing stage times, and dumping times; consistency in work input, shear rates, and shear stress.

Only if all these things are invariable, batch after batch, will the product be consistent in its behavior in the subsequent processes of shaping and curing, and as a result have consistent finished product properties.

One should differentiate between compounding and mixing. Compounding is deciding, which base elastomer, or elastomers, together with the quantities and types of other ingredients are required to give a product which, after mixing and curing, will have the properties required for the specific application. In a well-designed compound, each ingredient and level is selected to achieve specific properties in that compound. Achieving a minimum in cost per unit volume is always a parallel goal. Once the compound is in place, design of the mixing process involves deciding what equipment to use, and the appropriate speeds, pressures, times, temperatures and procedures required to blend those ingredients into an adequately mixed compound. In other words, mixing is a multifacited process.

 

Additional Instructions

Recordings should be completed in a quiet environment on the applicant’s mobile device. Start the recording by stating the Chapter number and title, “written by Peter S. Johnson”, “edited by Krishna C. Baranwal and Howard L. Stephens”, “narrated by [Your name], [Your School] “Class of [Graduation Year]”. Then state the publication name- “Basic Elastomer Technology, First Edition”. Then narrate the body of the chapter. In preparing your audio sample, it will be a good idea to listen to samples from audio narrations that we have circulated to subscribers to get a sense of the pace and tone we are looking for. To review them, go to http://modioinfo.com/our-solution/ and click the “Listen Now” buttons located in the Our Solution Section of the page. You will also see screenshots of our user interface that will give you a sense of the platform; including the “Meet the Narrator” link users can tap to access the email address and LinkedIn profile of the Narrators.

Once you complete recording your audio sample, email it to narrators@modioinfo.com and write “Application: ModioInfo Narrator – ACS Rubber Division” in the subject line. On the Voice Memos App, use the icon resembling a square with an arrow pointing out of it to email us your audio file. Please remember to submit your resume as well.