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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Towards Completely Automated Glycan Synthesis, Matteo Panza
Towards Completely Automated Glycan Synthesis, Matteo Panza
Dissertations
Carbohydrates are ubiquitous both in nature as biologically active compounds and in medicine as pharmaceuticals. Although there has been continued interest in the synthesis of carbohydrates, chemical methods require specialized knowledge and hence remain cumbersome. The need for development of rapid, efficient and operationally simple procedures has come to the fore. This dissertation focuses on the development of a fully automated platform that will enable both experts and non-specialists to perform the synthesis of glycans. Existing automated methods for the synthesis of oligosaccharides are highly sophisticated, operationally complex, and require significant user know-how. By contrast, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) …
Non-Toxic Soil Thickeners For Reducing Mudslide Intensity, Miranda Miao, Isaac Blackburn, Erika Haley Yao
Non-Toxic Soil Thickeners For Reducing Mudslide Intensity, Miranda Miao, Isaac Blackburn, Erika Haley Yao
Materials Engineering
Non-toxic food thickeners were investigated as a solution for thickening mud to mitigate the effects of mudslides. All soil was obtained from a site on the California Polytechnic State University campus where a mudslide occurred in 2017. Guar gum was mixed into the soil at 1 wt% and 10 wt% of the moisture content in the soil. Whey protein was mixed into the soil at 2 wt% and 19 wt% of the moisture content in the soil. The soils’ liquid limit was found using the Casagrande cup testing method. Liquid limit testing indicated that thickeners raised the liquid limit, most …
Maximizing Poly(3-Butylthiophene-2,5-Diyl) Electrical Conductivity By Maximizing Transcrystal Growth, Edward Alexander Bicknell
Maximizing Poly(3-Butylthiophene-2,5-Diyl) Electrical Conductivity By Maximizing Transcrystal Growth, Edward Alexander Bicknell
Materials Engineering
Polymers are generally considered electrical insulators. Despite this, research in the mid 1970’s found that polymers consisting of a conjugated backbone structure could become electrically conductive upon doping.1 The conjugated polymer analyzed for this project was poly(3-butylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3BT). Transcrystals have been found as a way to promote electrical conductivity through mechanisms including π bond atomic orbital overlap and electron mobility.2 In theory, maximizing transcrystal length would also maximize P3BT electrical conductivity, increasing its applicable use in electronic devices. The goal of this project was to determine a methodological way to maximize P3BT electrical conductivity by producing the longest transcrystal length …
Minimizing The Dimensional Change In Two Component Epoxy Based Thermoset Adhesives Through Adapting Mix Ratio And Initial Crosslink Density, Jefferson Peter Norman
Minimizing The Dimensional Change In Two Component Epoxy Based Thermoset Adhesives Through Adapting Mix Ratio And Initial Crosslink Density, Jefferson Peter Norman
Materials Engineering
Meissner Filtration uses amine-hardened epoxy as a high-performance adhesive to encapsulate hollow fiber membranes at the ends of rigid filter housings. Dimensional change of the epoxy while curing can result in residual stress formation that is detrimental to the manufacturing of the filter and causes structural integrity issues when the filter is used in industrial processes where heating and cooling cycles are implemented. The residual stresses can cause cracks, microscopic fractures, and delamination from the housing, resulting in failure of the filter. The goal of this project was to evaluate how changes in processing conditions could minimize dimensional variability due …
Compression Set Improvement Of Thermoplastic Vulcanizates For High Temperature Tubing, Mitchell Valaitis
Compression Set Improvement Of Thermoplastic Vulcanizates For High Temperature Tubing, Mitchell Valaitis
Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects
It was hypothesized that increasing the curative level of the fluorocarbon rubber (FKM) used in manufacturing of thermoplastic vulcanizate (TPV) materials would decrease the compression set values of the TPV enough for it to be suitable as a flexible, lightweight alternative to high operating temperature thermoset rubber tubing currently being used for power steering hose. First, promising TPV formulations were identified by varying the polyamide (PA) and FKM used in a Brabender mixer. Four different types of polyamide and four different types of FKM were investigated, with two of the FKM types and one polyamide type identified as being promising. …