Polymer and Organic Materials Commons^™

Rheo-Piv Investigation Of Fracture And Self-Healing In A Triblock Copolymer Gel, Benjamin A. Helfrecht, Travis L. Thornell, Kendra A. Erk

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Physically associating polymer gels have shown the ability to heal after failure, making them promising candidates for various medical applications or consumer products. However, the processes by which these materials self-heal is not well-understood. This study seeks to explain the self-healing behavior of the triblock copolymer poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(n-butyl acrylate)-poly(methyl methacrylate), or PMMA-PnBA-PMMA, by probing the material’s post-fracture behavior with rheometry and particle image velocimetry (PIV). The self-healing behavior was studied by deforming each gel in shear until failure multiple times with “recovery” periods in-between. PIV was used to verify the occurrence of each fracture in both time and space. Stress …

Simulation Of Bio-Inspired Porous Battery Separators, Yumeng Xie, Edwin Garcia, Aniruddha Jana

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Li-Ion rechargeable battery is one of the most-used rechargeable batteries around the industry of the world. The battery is most used in most electronic devices, electrical cars. But the battery separator is one of the mainly problem that limits the service life. If we can find the way to improve the performance of the battery separator, we can highly increase the service life of the Li-Ion battery. The goal of the project 'Simulation of Bio-Inspired Porous Battery Separators' is to generate a tool for users in order to create computer models of bio-inspired porous structures that resemble porous separators layer …

Modeling Oxygen Permeability In Biodegradable Polymer Films, Duncan Alexander Greeley

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

No abstract provided.

Cellulose Nanocrystals As A Material For Microencapsulation, Lauren C. Kennedy, Congwang Ye, Colton Steiner, Carlos Martinez

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cellulose is an abundant, biodegradable, and inexpensive renewable polymer that is light in weight with high mechanical strength (Habibi, Lucia, Rojas 2010). Full fibers of cellulose have been used in many products such as plastics and textiles for over a century and a half, but recently, modern extraction techniques have made it possible to investigate uses for minuscule cellulose fibers (Habibi, Lucia, Rojas 2010). Through acid hydrolysis, cellulose fibers become rod-like nanostructures with a high aspect ratio that are known as Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs) (Habibi, Lucia, Rojas 2010). Since CNCs are biodegradable and derive from a renewable resource, finding ways …

Next Generation Crystal Viewing Tool, Zach Schaffter, Gerhard Klimeck

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The science and engineering community is limited when it comes to crystal viewing software tools. Each tool lacks in a different area such as customization of structures or visual output. Crystal Viewer 2.0 was created to have all of these features in one program. This one tool simulates virtually any crystal structure with any possible material. The vtkvis widget offers users advanced visual options not seen in any other crystal viewing software. In addition, the powerful engine behind Crystal Viewer 2.0, nanoelectronic modeling 5 or (NEMO5), performs intensive atomic calculations depending on user input. A graphical user interface, or GUI, …

Efficiently Dispersing Carbon Nanotubes In Polyphenylene Sulfide, Kevin M. Sommer, R. Byron Pipes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Thermal plastics are replacing conventional metals in the aerospace, sporting, electronics, and other industries. Thermal plastics are able to withstand relatively high temperatures, have good fatigue properties, and are lighter than metals. Unfortunately, they are not very electrically conductive. However, adding carbon nanotubes to thermal plastics such as polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) can drastically increase the plastic's conductivity at a low weight percent of nanotubes called the percolation threshold. The percolation threshold is the point where adding a little more carbon nanotubes brings together the network of nanotubes and greatly increases the conductivity. We need to learn how to increase the …

Testing Self Healing Properties In Polymers, Hamsini Gopalakrishna, John Blendell

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Mussels and barnacles have the ability to stick to underwater surfaces with the help of a cross-linked protein structure. Reduction in the plastic consumption can be achieved by using toughened polymers. Synthesized cross-linking polymers can be used for underwater adhesion by mimicking the protein structure used by mussels and barnacles. One such polymer is poly(3,4-dihydroxystyrene-co-styrene) having enhanced toughness. Traditionally, blister tests measure the adhesion between a substrate to a surface but this was modified to serve as the driving force to drive crack propagation in controlled flaws. The modified blister tests were carried out on polystyrene (PS) samples. Once the …

Interfacial Rheological Mechanics Of A Non-Ionic, Tri-Block Copolymer At Water/Hexadecane Interface, Jerome J. Nash, Kendra Erk

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Growing interest on the stability of foams and emulsions has lead to concentrated research of interfacial rheology. The response of an interfacial layer to mechanical deformation in size and shape is dependent on its composition. [Miller 2010] This research analysis focused on the adsorption and rheological mechanics of the non-ionic, tri-block copolymer, Pluronic 17R4 at the water/hexadecane interface. The adsorption and viscoelastic properties of the interface were measured via methods of pendant drop tensiometry and dynamic oscillation with drop shape analysis software. Interfacial tension measurements were taken to study the surface pressures of Pluronic 17R4 solutions with concentrations ranging from …

Materials Education And Research In Art And Design: A New Role For Libraries (Website), Mark Pompelia

Materials Education and Research in Art and Design: A New Role for Libraries

No abstract provided.

Materials Education And Research In Art And Design: A New Role For Libraries (Program Sheet), Mark Pompelia

Materials Education and Research in Art and Design: A New Role for Libraries

No abstract provided.

Materials Education And Research In Art And Design: A New Role For Libraries (Program Booklet), Mark Pompelia

Materials Education and Research in Art and Design: A New Role for Libraries

No abstract provided.

Materials Education And Research In Art And Design: A New Role For Libraries (Survey Stats), Mark Pompelia

Materials Education and Research in Art and Design: A New Role for Libraries

No abstract provided.

Materials Collection Creation And Administration: A New Role For Libraries (White Paper), Mark Pompelia

Materials Education and Research in Art and Design: A New Role for Libraries

The Problem/Opportunity: To define, identify, and guide design-based materials collections in academic settings and foster community among those with existing collections and/or those considering creating and supporting one.

Contents and topics:

1. What is a materials collection?
2. Why have a materials collection?
3. Acquisition strategies
4. Organizational approaches
5. Programming possibilities
6. Symposium summary
7. Resources

Applied Analysis Of Ionic Polymer Metal-Composite Actuators, Siul Ruiz, Benjamin Mead, Woosoon Yim

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

• IPMC is a type of smart material called an electroactive polymer
• Consists of an ionic polymer such as Nafion or Flemion and a conducive metal such as platinum or gold
• COMSOL multi-physics simulations accurately model the experimental displacement results
• Optimization performed using the multi-physics model to find the maximum deflection, force, and twisting
• Using the closed loop control system accurate IPMC tip location can be achieved
• This control system has been extended to function using a computer mouse as an input

Raman Studies Of 1,3,5,7 Cyclooctatetraene At High Pressure, Martin Galley, Ed Romano, Sergey Tkachev, Michael Pravica

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

We performed Raman spectroscopic studies of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene at elevated pressures up to 10 GPa with the aim of examining possible planarization of the molecule and further studying two prior-discovered phases of the solid with pressure. The Raman excitation source was a Krypton-ion laser operating at 674.1 nm (give wavelength).

1,3,5,7 Cyclooctatetraene has an octagonal formation however it is not aromatic or anti-aromatic (not a subject to the 4n+2 Huckel’s rule) [1]. As a result, its adopts a somewhat reactive tub shape. Upon the addition or removal of one to two electrons under ambient conditions, the molecule planarizes and becomes aromatic …