Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Kinetic Modeling Of Catalytic Aerogels, Yi Cao
Kinetic Modeling Of Catalytic Aerogels, Yi Cao
Honors Theses
As pollution becomes an increasing concern globally, strict regulations have been set on vehicle pollutant emissions. The three-way catalytic converter is capable of converting toxic emissions such as carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides to less hazardous waste such as carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen. Current catalysts employ platinum group metals, which are expensive and environmentally damaging to mine. Catalytically-active aerogels such as Co-Al, Cu-Al and V-Al aerogels have shown promise as alternatives to these metals. The work presented here adapts and extends a global kinetic model which predicts the conversion of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide on platinum catalyst …
Investigation Of Boat Hull Performance With Superhydrophobic Coating, Nolan Sayre
Investigation Of Boat Hull Performance With Superhydrophobic Coating, Nolan Sayre
Honors Theses
Aerogels are a nano-porous material that have the ability to be made chemically superhydrophobic. A durable boat hull coating of superhydrophobic aerogels could form the boundary conditions necessary to reduce drag in water and in turn improve overall boat performance. This project investigated whether a superhydrophobic aerogel coating could effectively reduce skin friction drag on a boat. Various techniques for superhydrophobic surface fabrication were researched and tested with the goal of maximizing the surface water contact angle. It was concluded that Nafion solution is not an effective material to adhere aerogels to a surface. Hydrophobic and non-hydrophobic aerogels were adhered …
The Design Of An Optimized Patient-Specific In Vivo Spinal Fusion Cage Using Additive Manufacturing, Gorman Donnelly
The Design Of An Optimized Patient-Specific In Vivo Spinal Fusion Cage Using Additive Manufacturing, Gorman Donnelly
Honors Theses
This project involved the design of an all-in-one patient-specific lumbar spinal fusion cage using Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) manufacturing. The cage is zero-profile and does not need the use of supplemental fixation. It was manufactured out of the titanium alloy Ti 6Al-4V using a DMLS rapid prototyping machine from a third party company. The endplates of the cage are patient-specific allowing for a larger surface contact area between the cage and the vertebral bodies than most cages on the market. This fosters a more successful fusion as well as decreases surgery time, effectively decreasing recovery time. Different porosity variations …
Cfd Modeling Of The Flow Of Resin Into A Preform Mold Of Carbon Fibers, Caelan Lapointe
Cfd Modeling Of The Flow Of Resin Into A Preform Mold Of Carbon Fibers, Caelan Lapointe
Honors Theses
Sandwich structures are formed by separating load bearing face sheets with a light weight core material. This type of structural design is both strong and light, making for an extremely efficient structure. Sustainable sandwich structures made using face sheets of natural fiber mats and natural oil based resins separated by a fungal mycelia core. The vacuum infusion of resin into the fiber mats is investigated numerically using Star CCM+, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package. The methodology focuses on ease of use while emphasizing good modeling practices. The models generated are compared to the experimental results and provide a theoretical …
The Development Of A Composite Additive To Increase Safety And Performance Of Wooden Baseball Bats, Cj Worley
The Development Of A Composite Additive To Increase Safety And Performance Of Wooden Baseball Bats, Cj Worley
Honors Theses
Many youth baseball leagues are in the process of doing away with metal bats and using solely wood bats. They claim the game will be safer since ball exit velocities off of wood bats are lower than that of their metal counterparts; however, they are overlooking the fact that wood bats shatter causing new safety concerns that are not experienced with metal. It was the goal of this project to develop and test new additive materials to coat wood baseball bats in order to improve strength without decreasing performance. Polyurethane sealant, carbon fiber fabric, and duct tape were chosen to …