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Purdue University

Theses/Dissertations

2015

Sustainability

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A Bio-Inspired Self-Healing Polymer System For Sustainable Plastics, Michael Laird Johnston Jan 2015

A Bio-Inspired Self-Healing Polymer System For Sustainable Plastics, Michael Laird Johnston

Open Access Dissertations

Studying how marine organisms make tough biologic materials that autonomously heal allows us to integrate this biological self-healing motif into synthetic biomimetic polymers. These types of polymers will be used to develop components with greater fatigue life and toughness, promoting greater resource sustainability by reducing plastic consumption. The amino acid 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) grants marine mussels the ability to strongly affix themselves to the rocks under water by forming strong reversible bonds with their environment. Poly[(3,4-dihydroxystyrene)-co-styrene)] (P[3,4-DHS-S]) is a synthetic polymer mimic of DOPA with chemical structure similar to polystyrene (PS) with a potential self-healing mechanism. This intrinsic self-healing mechanism works …


Creation And Validation Of The Critical Thinking About Sustainability Scale, Vivian Gregory Alexander Jan 2015

Creation And Validation Of The Critical Thinking About Sustainability Scale, Vivian Gregory Alexander

Open Access Dissertations

Alexander, Vivian G. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2015. Creation and Validation of the Critical Thinking about Sustainability Scale. Major Professor: Yukiko Maeda.