Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Image Analysis For Swnt Growth On Shutter Sputtered Catalyst, Rebekah Arias

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have been used in remarkable ways since their discovery in 1991 by Sumio Iijima. Properties such as high thermal conductivity, good mechanical strength, and electrical conductivity are what make CNTs attractive. Some of their applications include water filtration, vehicles, energy storage, and now there is great potential in the biomedical field for CNTs as composites in tissue engineering, therapeutics carrier across the blood-brain barrier, cancer treatment, and much more. The issue that comes with Single-Walled Nanotubes (SWNTs) however is Ostwald ripening of catalyst and low CNT production. It is difficult to control gas parameters for hydrogen and …

Cnt Metamaterial Fabrication 3d Printing Mask Process, Jose J. Rivero Iii

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

The demand for clean energy is rising with the global population. Renewable energy sources, such as solar, will play a key role in the years ahead. Solar energy has a key problem with energy storage as the energy produced during peak solar hours must be used immediately or stored. Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have unique electrostatic properties, similar to metals, capable of producing and storing electric energy in the form of a capacitor. The CNTs are to be arranged in a pattern using 3D printing to generate a Split Ring

Resonator (SRR) metamaterial. Past research has shown generating CNT SRR patterns …

3d Printing Of Lunar Regolith Based Ceramics Via The Dlp Method, Ricardo Vasquez

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Ceramic parts generally have poor machinability due to their high hardness and high brittleness. Researchers and industries have overcome the difficulty of machining ceramics and have manufactured parts with intricate geometry by using pre-ceramic polymers in stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing and using slurries based on ceramic powder and photopolymer resin in digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing, among other methods. This presentation will discuss the processes involved in the 3D printing of ceramic and ceramic composite parts via the DLP technique. A vital step in ceramic 3D printing is to optimize the printing parameters for a specific slurry formulation in …

Fracture Strength Of Multi-Component Ultra-High Temperature Carbides, Gia Garino

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) have emerged as a promising material for next generation re-entry hypersonic vehicles due to high melting point (>3000 °C), and high mechanical properties and oxidation resistance. Yet none of the unary UHTCs can satisfy the whole gamut of demanding requirements for aerospace applications. Recently, the single-phase solid-solution formation in a multi-component ultra-high temperature ceramic (MC-UHTC) materials have gained interest due to their superior thermo-mechanical properties compared to conventional UHTCs. Herein, a systematic approach was used to fabricate binary (Ta, Nb)C, ternary (Ta, Nb, Hf)C, and quaternary (Ta, Nb, Hf, Ti)C UHTCs by gradual addition of …

Gopher Tortoise Seed Dispersal Monitoring, Bryan Torres Garcia

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Gopher tortoises are native to Florida and vital to the ecosystem due to the underground boroughs they build, which provide shelter to other animals, and for their key role in seed dispersion. In order to improve our understanding of the role of gopher tortoises on biodiversity, we aim to investigate the digestive track of gopher tortoises. Data on seed dispersion distance and gut retention time are critical to effective and efficient endangered plant species conservation efforts. In a multidisciplinary project between Department of Earth and Environment, College and Engineering, and the Miami Zoo, we are fabricating an ingestible device to …

In-Operando Optical Observation/Visualization Of Lithium-Sulfur Battery Discharge Process, Ana G. Claus

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Lithium−Sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted attention due to their high-energy density, 2500 Wh/𝑘𝑔𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 [1], and theoretical capacity of 1672 mAh/g-S [2]. In addition to that, sulfur abundance makes it a good candidate for rechargeable batteries. However, Li-S system has a few challenges that hinder its commercialization. Such as the insulating nature of the sulfur element, volume expansion, capacity fade due to intermittent polysulfide dissolution in the electrolyte and drop in capacity during the initial discharge cycles [3]. Herein, we have designed a Li-S in-operando optical observation cell, which allowed us to visualize the formation of higher to lower-order polysulfides as …

Using High-Speed Imaging And Machine Learning To Capture Ultrasonic Treatment Cavitation Area At Different Amplitudes, Brandon Aguiar, Paul G. Bianco, Arvind Agarwal

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

The ultrasonic treatment process strengthens metals by increasing nucleation and decreasing grain size in an energy efficient way, without having to add anything to the material. The goal of this research endeavor was to use machine learning to automatically measure cavitation area in the Ultrasonic Treatment process to understand how amplitude influences cavitation area. For this experiment, a probe was placed into a container filled with turpentine because it has a similar viscosity to liquid aluminum. The probe gyrates up and down tens of micrometers at a frequency of 20 kHz, which causes cavitations to form in the turpentine. Each …

Facilitated Release Of Doxorubicin From Biodegradable Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles, Melissa Venedicto, Cheng-Yu Lai

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Cervical cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death for women in the United States. The current treatment with chemotherapy drugs has significant side effects and may cause harm to healthy cells rather than cancer cells. In order to combat the potential side effects, nanoparticles composed of mesoporous silica were created to house the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX). The silica network contains the drug, and a pH study was conducted to determine the conditions for the nanoparticle to disperse the drug. The introduction of disulfide bonds within the nanoparticle created a framework to efficiently release 97% of …

Nanomechanical Properties Of Engineered Cardiomyocytes Under Electrical Stimulation, Lia Paolino, Lihua Lou, Alberto Sesena Rubfiaro, Jin He, Arvind Agarwal

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Engineered cardiomyocytes made of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) present phenotypical characteristics similar to human fetal cardiomyocytes. There are different factors that are essential for engineered cardiomyocytes to be functional, one of them being that their mechanical properties must mimic those of adult cardiomyocytes. Techniques, such as electrical stimulation, have been used to improve the extracellular matrix's alignment and organization and improve the intracellular environment. Therefore, electrical stimulation could potentially be used to enhance the mechanical properties of engineered cardiac tissue. The goal of this study is to establish the effects of electrical stimulation on the elastic modulus of engineered …

Optimization Of Dlp 3d Printed Ceramic Parts, Samuel Ovalle, E. Viamontes, Tony Thomas

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing allows for the creation of parts with advanced engineering materials and geometries difficult to produce through conventional manufacturing techniques. Photosensitive resin monomers are activated with a UV-producing LCD screen to polymerize, layer by layer, forming the desired part. With the right mixture of photosensitive resin and advanced engineering powder material, useful engineering-grade parts can be produced. The Bison 1000 is a research-grade DLP printer that permits the user to change many parameters, in order to discover an optimal method for producing 3D parts of any material of interest. In this presentation, the process parameter …

Flash Sintering Of Commercial Zirconium Nitride Powders, Diego Dubois, Amirali Eskandariyun, Suprabha Das, Andriy Durygin, Zhe Cheng

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Flash sintering is an electrical field-assisted densification technique that requires passing a current through a ceramic powder compact. Pressure-assisted flash sintering of commercially available Zirconium Nitride (ZrN) powders has been demonstrated. Near fully dense samples can be obtained within a short period of time. The influences of parameters such as electrical field strength, voltage ramping rate, current limit, external pressure, pre-heating, and holding time on the onset of the flash event were investigated. Some post-flash sintered samples were subjected to the same condition to observe if the material would experience repeated flash. In addition, material properties such as density and …

Aerodynamic Shape Multi-Objective Optimization For Sae Aero Design Competition Aircraft, Ruben Fernandez, Hernando Lugo, George S. Dulikravich

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

The SAE Regular Class Aero Design Competition requires students to design a radio-controlled aircraft with limits to the aircraft power consumption, take-off distance, and wingspan, while maximizing the amount of payload it can carry. As a result, the aircraft should be designed subject to these simultaneous and contradicting objectives: 1) minimize the aerodynamic drag force, 2) minimize the aerodynamic pitching moment, and 3) maximize the aerodynamic lift force. In this study, we optimized the geometric design variables of a biplane configuration using 3D aerodynamic analysis using the ANSYS Fluent. Coefficients of lift, drag, and pitching moment were determined from the …

Development Of A Pipe Crawler Inspection Tool For Fossil Energy Power Plants, Julie Villamil, Caique Lara, Anthony Abrahao, Aparna Aravelli, Guilherme Daldegan, Sharif Sarker, Dwayne Mcdaniel

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Fossil fuel power plants are complex systems containing multiple components that create extreme environments for the purpose of extracting usable energy. Failures in the system can lead to increased down time for the plant, reduction of power and significant cost for repairs. In the past, inspections and maintenance of the plant's superheater tubes has been predominantly manual, laborious, and extremely time consuming. This is due to the pipe's small diameter size (between 1.3 and 7.6 cm) and the coiled structure of the tubing. In addition, the tubes are often stacked close to each other, limiting access for external inspection. Detection …

Testbed For Pressure Sensors, Ana Claus, Borzooye Jafarizadeh, Azmal Huda Chowdhury, Neziah Pala, Chunlei Wang

2022 MME Undergraduate Research Symposium

Currently, several studies and experiments are being done to create a new generation of ultra-low-power wearable sensors. For instance, our group is currently working towards the development of a high-performance flexible pressure sensor. However, with the creation of new sensors, a need for a standard test method is necessary. Therefore, we opted to create a standardized testbed to evaluate the pressure applied to sensors. A pulse wave is generated when the heart pumps blood causing a change in the volume of the blood vessel. In order to eliminate the need of human subjects when testing pressure sensors, we utilized polymeric …