Role Of Salt On Coating Failure, Kyle Krause

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It is important to understand the role of salt in the coating failure because it may influence the coating degradation mechanism that is related to coating performance. This project will study the role of salt on two types of organic coatings under two different immersion environment. The environment selected was 3.5% by weight sodium chloride solution and deionized (DI) water. The two coatings were Neorez 1080 (a waterborne polyurethane) and Joncryl 587-AC (a solvent borne polyurethane). Each coating was tested in each environment using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement which presented a total of four data sets. The equivalent circuit …

Design Of Rubber Extraction Process From Tks Dandelion, Trevor A. Cody

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A design was developed for a controlled environment agriculture 3D greenhouse to grow and harvest TKS dandelions, as well as a processing plant to extract natural rubber and inulin from the roots. The design capacity was scaled for both pilot- and full-scale production: 100 and 100,000 tonnes of natural rubber per year, respectively. The byproducts of the process were dandelion greens, inulin, cellulose, and glucose; all of these except for cellulose were able to be valorized. The greenhouse was designed based on existing 3D hydroponic growing environments, and the extraction process was designed based on the original TKS dandelion extraction …

Gymfo: A Gym Finding Ios App Using Google Maps Api, Clay A. Wyers

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project explores iOS mobile app development. I developed a gym finding app in Swift, using Google Maps APIs,and called it Gymfo. Other technologies were studied as well, including the cloud computing service Microsoft Azure. Through this project I learned the basics of XCode and Swift, Google APIs, and sending and receiving HTTP requests. The final product is an iOS app that allows users to search for nearby gyms and displays the results on an interactive map.

Smart Fan, Jacob A. Carroll, Joshua B. Blanchard, Peter A. Gross, Joshua D. Riegel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Modern box fans offer a simple solution to cooling an area. However, the simplicity that makes these fans appealing also limits their potential. A smart box fan that preserves its original simplicity while providing enhanced technological features such as smartphone connectivity and variable speed selection should lead to ease of use, improved performance, and increased customer satisfaction. To this end, a regular box fan will be instrumented and technology-enhanced, thus “smart fan.” The standard AC motor will be replaced with a DC motor for finer speed selection over the allowable range. The smart fan will offer three categories of operation: …

Multiplexed Sensor Array For Accurate Time-Of-Wetness (Tow) Measurement, Nathaniel G. Sutton, Hongbo Cong, Jiang John Zhe, Shengxi Li, Xiaoliang Zhu

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this work, we use electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to observe the response of a single, photo-lithographically created, interdigital transducer (IDT) sensor, dimensions 6mm X 6 mm, with capacitive elements 70μm X 500 nm. The IDT was exposed to different wetting conditions, droplets of DI water, 0.1 M NaCl, and 0.6 M NaCl, in volumes of 0.1, 0.3, 1, and 5 μL. Deliquescence of solid NaCl salt particles in a dynamic-humidity (%RH Increasing, 33% to 85%) atmosphere is examined. Equivalent circuit fitting of impedance spectra suggests linear trends for the capacitive equivalent circuit element parameters and a decaying logarithmic trend …

Protein Release Study Using Heparin Modified Methacrylamide Chitosan Hydrogels, Dakotah G. Cox

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study was performed to improve the release of proteins from hydrogels in order to increase their effectiveness in treating spinal cord injuries. Heparin, which has the ability to bind to proteins and slow their release, underwent methacrylation, was added to prepared methacrylamide chitosan (MAC) solutions with a model protein (SDF-1α) and photopolymerized to create MAC-heparin hydrogels. Varying weight percentages of methacrylated heparin were tested in order to determine the optimal amount needed to improve the release profile. The pure MAC hydrogels and gels with 10 wt% heparin had a rapid release of the SDF-1α (>23% and >29%, respectively, …

Effects Of Corrosion Inhibitor On The Corrosion Behavior Of Low Carbon Steel In Co2 Environment, Michael Harris

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The effectiveness of Benzalkonium chloride (C14) as a corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in an aqueous CO₂ environment was studied for dual use. It is a known biocide and currently untested corrosion inhibitor. Potentiodynamic polarization was used to determine the anodic and cathodic reaction kinetics through analysis of the potentiodynamic curves and the corrosion current densities. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was utilized to analyze the surface characteristics through analysis of the Nyquist and Bode plots. C1010 and C1018 mild steel were tested in a 200mL jacketed Gamery cell, and purged with CO₂ (99.9%). Temperature effects were studied and …

Lighted Ear Curette, Kaitlin Klotzle, Kelsey Ashmore, Crysta Yamamoto, Katrina Elfrink, Cynthia Stoller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The ear canal is a sensitive and small part of the human body that is prone to accumulate cerumen or lodge foreign bodies. In order to clean the ear canal or remove foreign bodies, three hands are required: one to brace the patient's head, one to maneuver the curette that is used to clean the ear, and one to hold a light source in order to make the small, dark area visible. Therefore, a design is needed that can allow a doctor to safely clean an ear with an instrument that only requires two hands. Furthermore, the design must have …

System For Workout Information Management, Mark Archual, Ethan E. Schweinsberg

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Power racks are a weight machine used by swimmers to provide resistance while they swim away from a wall toward the center of the pool. The objective of this project is to build a modular data system that can be added to these machines to record and log quantitative information during their use. This information will be stored on a web server, and made available to the user for analysis and visualization through a web application. Workout data can also be downloaded and interpreted at a later time, independent of the web application. The data system should be water resistant, …

Water Jet Cutting Head Actuator, Jacob D. Augustynovich

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In an effort to increase efficiency and productivity, WARDJet was seeking a better actuation method for the cutting head on their waterjets. Current actuation methods were, for the most part, purely mechanical, relying on compressed air, springs, and water pressure to open and close the valve to 60,000 psi of water. Increasing the speed of the on/off cycle times of the waterjet would allow for faster movements of the cutting head from one cut to the next, increasing the overall amount of products cut in a day, week, and year. This obviously points to increased sales, increased profit, and increased …

Smart Fitness Machine, Tyler M. Masters

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper details the design of a smart fitness machine that, by the use of sensors and a central micro controller, tracks an individual users exercise performance data and provides a platform for the data to be easily accessed either by the trainer or user.

Effect Of Sintering Temperature On Microstructure, Corrosion Behavior, And Hardness Of Nanocrystalline Al-5at.%Ni And Al-5at.%V Alloys, Matthew G. Wachowiak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to investigate thermal stability of high energy ball milled Al-5at.%Ni and Al-5at.%V alloys. Characterization was done by analyzing grain size and solid solubility. Samples were created using high energy ball milling, cold compaction to 3 GPa, and sintering from 100 °C to 500 °C at 100 °C increments, as well 450 °C and 614 °C. Microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion properties were determined using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, hardness testing, and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization. Vickers hardness of Al-5at.%Ni decreased with increasing temperature. For Al-at.%V, hardness increased with sintering temperature …

Design Of Natural Rubber Extraction From Tks Dandelion, Jehad S. Alrawajfeh, Trevor Cody, Jason Pogozelski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A design was developed for a controlled environment agriculture 3D greenhouse to grow and harvest TKS dandelions, as well as a processing plant to extract natural rubber and inulin from the roots. The design capacity was scaled for both pilot- and full-scale production: 100 and 100,000 tonnes of natural rubber per year, respectively. The byproducts of the process were dandelion greens, inulin, cellulose, and glucose; all of these except for cellulose were able to be valorized. The greenhouse was designed based on existing 3D hydroponic growing environments, and the extraction process was designed based on the original TKS dandelion extraction …

Pitting Corrosion Of 410 Stainless Steel In Hcl Solutions, Paul D. Krell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

410 stainless steel (SS) is a material used in HCl services, such as distillation column trays in oil refineries. Unlike other alloys, however, the oil refining industry lacks a good reference for the corrosion rate of 410 SS at the varying HCl concentrations and temperatures the material might experience as trays in crude unit distillation columns. The goal of this project is to fill that knowledge gap. The corrosion behavior of 410 SS in HCl environments of pH 0.50, 1.25, 2.25, 3.25, and 4.25 at temperatures of 38, 52, 79, and 93°C was investigated using several methods. Cyclic potentiodynamic polarization …

Underwater Robot, Joseph E. Beck, Matthew Crislip, Cody Bobek, Peyton Lucas

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) are remote controlled drones operated by a non-local user. The ROV we plan to build is connected by a tethering wire to a floating buoy that contains an antenna which will send signals between the base station and the ROV. The ROV is equipped with a video camera, ballast system, propulsion system, lights, and a depth sensor. The ROV will transmit a live video feed to the user, while receiving input signals to control its movement from the base station.

Augmented Reality Helmet, Kevin Kapko

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Cyclists need a detection method for vehicles to help prevent accidents and a method to display exercise data in order to maximize their workout. An array of sensors paired with a display allows a cyclist to be notified of workout information and any surrounding traffic. A smartphone app calculates the information from the sensors and sends the calculations to the display. This will allow the user to be able to see their exercise information without disrupting their bike ride as well as give some measure of safety to the cyclist when sharing the street with cars.

Platinum-Rhodium Alloy Electrocatalyst Activities In The Methanol Oxidation Reaction, William R. Sandorf

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study evaluates the electrochemical activity of several compositions of platinum-rhodium alloys on carbon support to identify potential replacements for the expensive platinum electrocatalysts currently used in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The electrochemical active surface areas (ECSAs) of each sample were determined using cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution to normalize CV currents generated in the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The activity of five compositions was tested; Pt₃Rh, Pt₂Rh, PtRh, Pt₂Rh, and Pt₃Rh. 100 mg of each catalyst was synthesized at 10% by weight platinum …

Compressive Strength Relative To Sustainable Materials In Concrete, Brad Harvey

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this study is to determine how integrating abundant waste materials into concrete affects its compressive strength. This research will be used to benefit the construction industry by replacing a portion of a conventional concrete mix (cement, stone, sand, and water) with more sustainable materials. In order to create a more sustainable concrete mixture, the following mix design and methodology was followed.

The initial step was to create an updatable MS Excel spreadsheet to aid in the mix development (the spreadsheet is shown in Appendix A). These sheets allowed for easy transitions from one mix to another by …

Study Of Experimentally Blended Wings, Ray Roos 2894888

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This aim of this senior design project is to investigate the combination of a Selig 1223 and FX 74-CL5-140 into one profile to increase lift without significantly increasing drag. Our project began with researching current solutions for high lift and low drag airfoils. We found two airfoils which would be the target of our research, a Selig 1223 and the FX 74-CL5-140. After learning about the Cl and Cd of the current airfoils we built and physically tested the airfoils using additive manufacturing. A pressure differential tunnel was used to validate the airfoils. After researching how to blend two airfoil …

Polarized Elastic Nanofiber Tubular Mat, Elizabeth Moore

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Abstract

The scope of this project is to find the optimal parameters to polarize a nanofiber membrane in a tubular geometry as spun on a metal spring. Several different recipes were tested for electrospinning and polarization. Some recipes proved unable to be electrospun. A polymer solution with 12 weight percent resulted in good fiber formation. The results from the polarization attempts proved inconclusive as the electrostatic surface charge did not appear to change. The readings were taken with an electrostatic field meter. As a future experiment a new measurement technique with a Faraday cage will be utilized.

Swagelok's Hand Tube Bender, Chapin Hutama, Seth Bills, William Mcconnell, Tyler Brown

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In our project, we are assigned to develop a hand tube bender that is able to bend medium, high pressure, and standard 1/4” and 3/8” tubing. The bender also shall be capable of being used with two hands without the aid of a bench vise and have provisions for use in a bench vise for convenience. The bender shall not damage the tube during bending and induce a maximum of 8% ovality in the bent tubing. In addition, the cost of the bender shall be less than the existing hand tube bender and be resistant to rusting from ordinary use. …

Forget-Me-Not, Daniel Barber-Cironi, Shawn Nicholson, Jake Kruse, Nicole Dent

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of Forget-Me-Not is to provide another level of care and comfort to those suffering from mild dementia, as well as provide further assistance for a friend, family member, or caretaker who may look after them. Research shows that timely reminders and persistent information can greatly improve the quality of life for those afflicted with mild dementia (Mokhtari et al.). Forget-Me-Not’s persistent display and wearable smart-bracelet offer a customizable and well connected system to provide these reminders. For the caretaker, a mobile application is provided in order to maintain the display and notify them of emergencies or critical events …

Lehmier Launch System, Dylan Lehmier 5248813

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Lehmier Launch System was designed to propel a 120lb rocket 30,000 feet. Creating 2150 psi of thrust and 27,500 N-s of total impulse, it is the largest rocket motor ever used by the Akronauts Rocket Design Team.

The Experimental Determination Of The Moment Of Inertia Of A Model Airplane, Michael Koken

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this project is to suggest that the moment of inertia for irregular shaped objects can easily be determined experimentally. The objects considered in this experiment were a solid wooden block and a model airplane. To ensure that the method and configuration is sufficient a wooden block with known moments of inertia was first tested, and the results from the experiment were compared to the known and accepted values. For this particular experiment, the periods were determined by timing how long 10 oscillations lasted for 10 different trials, and then taking the average of those 10 trials to …

Design And Implementation Of An Air Multiplier Fan For Pc, George Demian

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Mechanical engineering student (B.S.) senior design project. Conception, design (SolidWorks), 3D printing & processing, testing of a scaled down air multiplier "bladeless" fan within a computer chassis as a cooling solution.

Implementing Software Lab At Hackathons, Istvan Gates

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Hackathons are events where groups of college students have 24 hours to build up a any project, using Computer Science and Electrical Engineering skillsets. These events are typically hosted on college campuses, and attract over 200 students per event. Each student brings 2 devices - their phone, and their laptop. That means that 400 devices are connected to a University venue's Internet network, commonly overloading it. Software Lab alleviates this overloading by providing an abstracted NAS node network for events. Software Lab guarantees speeds of at least 100 mbits/s, and provides a 8-10x improvement on download speeds over the common …

Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, Austin R. Tyler, Chris R. Estock, Johnathan P. Johenning, Garrett W. Chonko, Allen C. Gilleland

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) draws teams from various universities to compete in the annual autonomous vehicle challenge at the Oakland University campus. To compete, a vehicle must be fully autonomous and can navigate a course designated by various obstacles and painted white lines. Some design challenges are motor control, navigation, environment sensing and safety. A complex navigation system will utilize several tools including a high-precision differential GPS. The vehicle’s surroundings will be mapped using a combination of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and computer-vision enabled imaging. To comply with IGVC rules, the vehicle must also follow several safety …

Stability And Retention Enhancement Of Low Fouling Polystyrene Sulfonic Acid (Pss) And Polyethylene Glycol (Peg) Blend Films With Silane Coupling Agents, Sean Stybel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The goal of this research project was to apply silane coupling agents for enhanced stability and retention of a low fouling polymeric coating to an inorganic substrate. A blend of polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSS) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) was crosslinked in order to create a low fouling film. The film was prepared by spin coating a PSS-PEG solution on an inorganic substrate coated with a layer of a silane coupling agent (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, APTES, solution), followed by thermal curing. The research was limited to less than one year and only used lab equipment available at the University of Akron. Stability and …

Rubber Additives To Concrete Specimens, Kendall J. Sweitzer, Mary Mccannon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Rubber, as an additive to concrete, would hypothetically cause a concrete specimen to take on some mechanical characteristics of the rubber to a certain degree. In particular, the concrete’s durability should increase when exposed to fluctuating temperature conditions due to the rubber additive. This experiment sets out to test crumb rubber as a concrete additive, cured under various atmospheric conditions. The effects shall be measured via a simple concrete compression test.

Unfortunately, several errors took place during experimental process that led to inconclusive results. However, it can be reasonably considered from testing Matrix One that the addition of crumb rubber …

Corrosion Resistance Of Silane Coatings On Aluminum And Magnesium Alloys, John Demopoulos

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to increase the corrosion resistance of aluminum and magnesium alloys by coating the coupons with a silane on the surface. Four different silanes: 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), Bis(triethoxysilylpropyl)amine (Bis), (Heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyl)trichlorosilane (FTS), and (Heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyl)triethoxysilane (non Cl FTS) will be used and compared to see which silane would give the best corrosion resistance. Each silane solution was coated on the coupons by using a solution method in which the coupon was submerged for 24 hours and then thermally cured for another 24 hours. Once the coating was applied, the water contact angle and the thickness of the coating …