Engineering Commons^™

Creating A Stem Identity: Investment With Return, Janet Callahan, Patricia Pyke, Susan Shadle, R. Eric Landrum

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Establishing a strong STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) identity at Boise State University, a metropolitan campus with approximately 3,655 undergraduate STEM students and a total undergraduate enrollment of approximately 19,042 (16,136 FTE) has been an important step toward creating a climate conducive to facilitating fundamental change. Examples of such change include building collaborations among faculty within and across departments, establishing the identity of students as part of a community beyond their chosen major, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of university systems, and perhaps most importantly, developing a framework to think deliberately about ways to effect change. This paper is …

Magnetic Shape Memory Micro-Pump For Intra-Cranial Drug Delivery, Sam Barker, Eric Rhoads, Andrew Morrison, Miranda Buttram, Paul Lindquist

College of Engineering Presentations

Magnetic shape-memory alloys exhibit strong magneto-structural coupling enabling large magnetic-field-induced deformation. Local control of twinning via variable inhomogeneous magnetic fields initiates local reversible deformation. Previous work produced a valve-less micropump consisting of a Ni-Mn-Ga single crystal, a casing, and a rod magnet. The micropump successfully pumped fluid in opposite directions when the magnet was turned clockwise and counter clockwise. Our current work modifies this micropump for application in rat a head stage, which would simultaneously monitor electroencephalograph data and deliver 0.5-5.0 μl of a drug solution at 100-500 nl/min directly to the rat’s brain. These improvements and the application of …

Molecular Modification Of Cnt Junctions, Kari Mclaughlin*, Hanna Meinikheim*, Angela "Nikki" Chang

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

Carbon nanotube networks (CNNs) are increasingly finding applications as thin film transistors (TFTs), integrated circuits, and display drivers on flexible, transparent substrates. This is attributed to the higher carrier mobility of CNNs as compared to amorphous silicon and organic TFTs [1,2]. However, high electrical [3-5] and thermal [6,7] resistances at individual nanotube junctions (NJs) limit the performance of CNN devices. The resistances of the junctions are no less than an order of magnitude higher than those of individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs). This causes high power dissipation at the NJs. In the end this causes degradation of the overall device performance …

Simulation Of The Relaxation Potential Profile Of An Ac-Dc-Ac Test, Kerry N. Allahar, Michael F. Hurley, Erik D. Sapper, Darryl P. Butt

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The relaxation period of the accelerated ac-dc-ac test for coatings is associated with the transient electrochemistry that occurs when the immersed coated system is allowed to return to a stable open-circuit condition after being subjected to a cathodic potential. A mathematical model of the transient electrochemistry that occurs during this relaxation period is presented for coated aluminum. Expressions for the corrosion potential and corrosion current as functions of the local pH at the metal-coating interface were developed using reported experimental results. These expressions enabled the simulation of the transient electrochemistry under the constraint of balanced anodic and cathodic current densities. …

Identification Of Silver And Palladium In Irradiated Triso Coated Particles Of The Agr-1 Experiment, I. J. Van Rooyen, T. M. Lillo, Y. Q. Wu

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evidence of the release of certain metallic fission products through intact tristructural isotropic (TRISO) particles has been seen for decades around the world, as well as in the recent AGR-1 experiment at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). However, understanding the basic mechanism of transport is still lacking. This understanding is important because the TRISO coating is part of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor functional containment and critical for the safety strategy for licensing purposes.

Our approach to identify fission products in irradiated AGR-1 TRISO fuel using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy Filtered TEM (EFTEM), …

Correlation Between The Microstructure And Mechanical Properties Of Irradiated Fe-9cr Ods, M. Swenson, C. Dolph, J. Wharry

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growing global demand for energy will increasingly call upon fusion reactors and Generation IV nuclear fission reactors to supply safe and reliable energy worldwide. Ferritic/martensitic (F/M) alloys are leading candidates for structural components in these reactors because of their high strength, dimensional stability, and low activation. In novel reactor concepts, these materials will be subject to extreme operating conditions, accumulating doses of irradiation up to a few hundred displacements per atom (dpa) at temperatures as high as 600°C. Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) F/M alloys containing a dispersion of Y-Ti-0 nanoclusters have been developed to operate at even higher temperatures.