Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Solid-State Compatibilization Of Immiscible Polymer Blends: Cryogenic Milling And Solid-State Shear Pulverization, Marc Frederick Henry
Solid-State Compatibilization Of Immiscible Polymer Blends: Cryogenic Milling And Solid-State Shear Pulverization, Marc Frederick Henry
Master’s Theses
The blending of common polymers allows for the rapid and facile synthesis of new materials with highly tunable properties at a fraction of the costs of new monomer development and synthesis. Most blends of polymers, however, are completely immiscible and separate into distinct phases with minimal phase interaction, severelydegrading the performance of the material. Cross-phase interactions and property enhancement can be achieved with these blends through reactive processing or compatibilizer addition. A new class of blend compatibilization relies on the mechanochemical reactions between polymer chains via solid-state, high energy processing. Two contrasting mechanochemical processing techniques are explored in this thesis: …
A General Approach Towards The Synthesis Of Amido-Functionalized Biodegradable Polyesters, Joseph Russell
A General Approach Towards The Synthesis Of Amido-Functionalized Biodegradable Polyesters, Joseph Russell
Master’s Theses
The thesis presented here describes methodologies to produce pendant group functionalized polyesters from amido-functionalized α-hydroxy acids. The synthetic methods used to produce the functionalized α-hydroxy acids are compatible with a wide array of functional groups, making this technique highly versatile. The synthesis of functionalized polyesters was investigated to develop polymers with properties that may improve the capabilities of existing biodegradable polyesters for applications in controlled release pharmaceuticals. Chemically modified a-hydroxy acids were synthesized by reacting glyoxylic acid with a primary or secondary amide. To demonstrate the utility of this reaction, fourstructurally dissimilar amide substituents were examined including 2-pyrrolidione, benzamide, acetamide …
A Microfluidic Method To Measure Diffusion In Hydrogels, Andrew Lee Litzenberger
A Microfluidic Method To Measure Diffusion In Hydrogels, Andrew Lee Litzenberger
Master’s Theses
A novel microfluidic method is proposed for studying diffusion of small molecules in a hydrogel. Microfluidic devices were prepared with semi-permeable microchannels defined by crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Uptake of dye molecules from aqueous solutions flowing through the microchannels was observedoptically and diffusion of the dye into the hydrogel was quantified. To complement the diffusion measurements from the microfluidic studies, nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) characterization of the diffusion of dye in the PEG hydrogels was performed. The diffusion of small molecules in a hydrogel is relevant to applications such asdrug delivery and modeling transport for tissue-engineering applications. The diffusion of small …