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Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Composite materials

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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Non-Destructive Infrared Thermographic Curing Analysis Of Polymer Composites, Md Ashiqur Rahman, Javier Becerril, Dipannita Ghosh, Nazmul Islam, Ali Ashraf Feb 2023

Non-Destructive Infrared Thermographic Curing Analysis Of Polymer Composites, Md Ashiqur Rahman, Javier Becerril, Dipannita Ghosh, Nazmul Islam, Ali Ashraf

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Infrared (IR) thermography is a non-contact method of measuring temperature that analyzes the infrared radiation emitted by an object. Properties of polymer composites are heavily influenced by the filler material, filler size, and filler dispersion, and thus thermographic analysis can be a useful tool to determine the curing and filler dispersion. In this study, we investigated the curing mechanisms of polymer composites at the microscale by capturing real-time temperature using an IR Thermal Camera. Silicone polymers with fillers of Graphene, Graphite powder, Graphite flake, and Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) were subsequently poured into a customized 3D printed mold for …


Prototyping A Conductive Polymer Steering Pad For Rail Freight Service, Anthony A. Villarreal, Constantine Tarawneh, Miguel Ontiveros, James Aranda, Robert Jones Jul 2019

Prototyping A Conductive Polymer Steering Pad For Rail Freight Service, Anthony A. Villarreal, Constantine Tarawneh, Miguel Ontiveros, James Aranda, Robert Jones

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The AdapterPlus™ steering pad is a polymer component on a railcar that helps to reduce stresses on the axle as a railcar rounds a curve. One railway application requires a minimum of 240 mA to be passed through the steering pad to the rail, which activates air valves that control automated cargo gates. Currently, two copper studs are inserted into the pad to provide a conductive path. However, after continuous cyclic loading caused by normal service operation, the copper studs deform, wear, and eventually lose contact between the two surfaces rendering the pad nonconductive. One proposed solution to this problem …