Engineering Commons^™

Improved Data Acquisition Using A Novel Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Sample Preparation Technique: The Numbers Do Not Lie, Jordan J. Winetrout

Honors Theses

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) is a technique commonly used to identify the thermomechanical properties of polymeric materials. In the aerospace industry, a typical DMA sample is a glassy epoxy-amine polymer network. On a laboratory scale, these types of materials are cured in a silicon mold and sanded by hand to yield a sample with testable dimensions. This preparation technique is time consuming and causes sample imperfections which negatively affects data acquisition. This thesis aims to absolve the issues with DMA sample preparation by using a custom vacuum housing and a DeWALT^TM brand orbital sander. This novel approach has been …