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Polymer and Organic Materials Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Polymer and Organic Materials

Engineering Next Generation Anisotropic Materials And Composites, Nihal Kanbargi Jul 2018

Engineering Next Generation Anisotropic Materials And Composites, Nihal Kanbargi

Doctoral Dissertations

Polymer-based composite systems have been developed for a wide variety of applications ranging from aerospace to electronics. My work has focused on the structure-process-property relationships of anisotropic polymeric materials and composites, aimed primarily for structural applications. Anisotropic materials such as fibers have superior mechanical properties along the axial direction and this property can be exploited to engineer exceptionally strong and light materials. In the first chapter, we discuss the physics of degradation of Poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) (PBO) fibers. PBO, a fiber of extraordinary tensile modulus and strength has been found to degrade rapidly under moderate conditions of humidity and heat. Solid-state NMR …


Exploring The Relationship Between Cellular Structure And Mechanical Properties Of Polymer Foams, Timothy Lee Tan Jun 2018

Exploring The Relationship Between Cellular Structure And Mechanical Properties Of Polymer Foams, Timothy Lee Tan

Materials Engineering

Polymer foams are the material of choice for applications that require comfort, cushioning, and high energy absorption. While popular, the relationship between their microstructure and their mechanical properties is not yet strongly predictable. The aim of this project is to look at the different relationships between the area or volume occupied by pores compared to the amount of solid material and determine which method of quantifying this relationship will provide the best prediction of mechanical properties. To examine this relationship, foams of various densities made from either ethylene-co-vinyl acetate or thermoplastic polyurethane were first physically characterized through three methods: (1) …