Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Comparison Of Solvent And Water-Borne Alkyd Coatings And The History Of Voc Regulations In The United States, Molly Elise Burns

Master's Theses

A Comparison of Solvent and Water-Borne Alkyd Coatings Abstract

Conventional solvent based alkyd coatings have gone out of favor due to concerns over volatile organic compound (VOC) content. However, due to recent focus on renewable raw materials, alkyds are making a comeback in waterborne form. Water based alkyd coatings are known to have poor shelf stability and corrosion resistance, as well as other problems during the formulation process. This project focused on comparing solvent borne to two types of water-borne alkyds, water reducible alkyds and alkyds emulsions. The purpose was to understand the differences between the three types of alkyds …

An Investigation Into The Use Of Polymer Bound Boronic Acid For Glucose Detection In Paper Based Microfluidic Devices, Spencer A. Schultz

Master's Theses

Paper Based Microfluidic Devices (microPADs) are a new platform for point-of-care diagnostic assays for use in resource-limited settings. These devices rely typically on enzymatic assays to produce their results, which makes them susceptible to degradation when exposed to extreme environmental conditions such as high temperature. In order to overcome this limitation, this research project focused on investigating the use of polymers instead of enzymes to detect analytes on microPADs.

Polymer-bound boronic acid, a glucose and pH sensitive polymer, was incorporated into microPADs in order to develop a chronometric, paper-based glucose assay. The polymer was tested with both lateral and vertical …

Development And Characterization Of Reagent Pencils For Microfluidic Paper Based Analytical Devices, Cheyenne H. Liu

Master's Theses

Microfluidic paper based analytical devices (microPADs) are a novel platform for point of care (POC) diagnostics. Limitations of reagent shelf life have been overcome with the introduction of reagent pencils as a method for solid-based reagent deposition. While useful, little work has been reported on the characterization and optimization of reagent pencils. Herein, an investigation on reagent pencil composition and efficiency is conducted via colorimetric release profile tests utilizing an erioglaucine disodium salt that yields a quantifiable blue colored product in the presence of water. Within this work, an investigation on the molecular weight dependence, polymer chain end functionality, and …

Toward High Performance Nanocarbon Fibers, Michaela R. Pfau

Master's Theses

High performance carbon fibers (CFs) have been a commercially available since their commercial boom in the 1970s, and are generally produced via carbonization of poly (acrylonitrile) (PAN). More recently, carbon nanomaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been discovered and have shown excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties due to their sp² carbon repeating structure. Graphene and CNTs can both be organized into macroscopic fibers using a number of different techniques, resulting in fibers with promising mechanical performance that can be readily multifunctionalized. In some cases, the two materials have been combined, and the resulting hybrid fibers have …