Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Deuterium Nmr Studies Of Bulk And Silica-Absorbed Polystyrene, Macduff O. Okuom, Jinhua Yang, Frank D. Blum

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Thin polymer films are used in applications such as electronics, biomedical devices and coatings. As the trend to make the devices smaller continues, a film's influence on a material's overall properties becomes more prominent. Previous studies have shown that thin polymer films have characteristics slightly different from those of bulk polymers. Film behavior has been characterized by examining thermal expansion, diffusion, conformation, density and glass transitions. The dynamics of glassy polystyrene has been investigated using a wide variety of theoretical and experimental methods. Schaefer et al., using 13C NMR, reported that ~7% of phenyl rings in polystyrene undergo -flips. Using …

Thermal Assessment Of Silicon-Based Composite Materials Used In Photovoltaics, Pavlos K. Bataglannis

Theses

Photovoltaics are devices that convert sunlight directly to electricity. It is well established that the conversion efficiency of mono and poly-crystalline silicon-based photovoltaic modules is inversely related to their temperature. Substantial improvements in operational performance can thus be achieved if the thermal energy accumulating in the material can be effectively dissipated.

Accurate modelling of modules would allow possible methods of thermal dissipation to be evaluated, and as a crucial component of the model, the thermal properties of the constituent materials of PV modules needed to be known. Special consideration needed to be given to the interfaces between dissimilar materials and …

Reaction Control In Quiescent Systems Of Free-Radical Retrograde-Precipitation Polymerization, Vijaya Raghavan Tirumala

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Free-radical retrograde-precipitation polymerization, FRRPP in short, is a novel polymerization process discovered by Dr. Gerard Caneba in the late 1980s. The current study is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the reaction mechanism of the FRRPP and its thermodynamically-driven features that are predominant in controlling the chain reaction.

A previously developed mathematical model to represent free radical polymerization kinetics was used to simulate a classic bulk polymerization system from the literature. Unlike other existing models, such a sparse-matrix-based representation allows one to explicitly accommodate the chain length dependent kinetic parameters.

Extrapolating from the past results, mixing was experimentally shown …

Molecular Mass And Dynamics In Pma-D₃ In The Glass Transition Region, Burak Metin, Frank D. Blum

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

The segmental dynamics through the glass transition region, by which the glassy polymer becomes rubbery, are not well understood. Free volume, thermodynamic and kinetic theories have been used to describe the phenomenon behind the glass transition and some of those theories were tested with computer simulations. Different experimental techniques, such as NMR, thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dilatometry and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) have all been also used to probe this important phenomena. Deuterium (2H) NMR has been a valuable tool for the investigation of the dynamics of macromolecules. Deuteration of macromolecules at specific locations on the chains …

Dynamics Of Bulk And Adsorbed Poly(Vinyl Acetate), Frank D. Blum, Robert D. O'Connor

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We have recently completed a series of experiments on methyl-labeled poly(vinyl acetate)-d3, (PVAc-d3)1 and poly(methyl acrylate)-d3 (PMA-d3).234 the systems have been studied as a function of the adsorbed amount, molecular weight, and presence of a protonated overlayer. Using deuterium line shape analysis, we have found that around the glass transition temperature, the adsorbed polymers show the presence of a motional gradient. Polymer segments near the silica-polymer interface have less mobility than the bulk polymer and those near the polymer-air interface are more mobile than those of the bulk polymer. A schematic representation of the motional gradient is shown in Figure …

Influence Of Nanocrystalline Grain Size On The Breakdown Strength Of Ceramic Dielectrics, Yang Ye, Fatih Dogan, E. Schamiloglu, J. Gaudet, P. Castro, M. Roybal, M. Joler, C. Christodoulou, Shi C. Zhang

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In an effort to develop transmission lines with higher energy storage capabilities for compact pulsed power applications, the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) and the University of New Mexico (UNM) have undertaken a collaborative approach to developing and studying ceramic dielectrics. At UMR, the electrical breakdown strength (BDS) of TiO2-based materials is investigated for high energy density applications. The results of research to-date show that dense titania ceramics with nanocrystalline grain size (~200 nm) exhibit significantly higher BDS as compared to ceramics made using coarse grain materials. Processing-microstructure-property relationships in TiO2 systems are found to play a role with respect to …

Comparison Of Anode And Electrolyte Support Configuration Of Single-Chamber Sofc, Piotr Jasinski, Toshio Suzuki, Zach Byars, Fatih Dogan, Harlan A. Anderson

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The single-chamber solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has recently received considerable attention. This type of fuel cell operates in the mixed reactant gas and therefore does not require separation of the fuel and oxidant gases. In this paper we report the anode- and electrolyte-supported configurations of the single chamber SOFC that we have studied. The system based on typical fuel cell composition has been examined: yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as an electrolyte, nickel/YSZ cermet as an anode, lanthanum strontium manganese oxide (LSM) as a cathode. The cells were prepared by tape-casting and screen-printing techniques. The cathode processing parameters have been …

Laser Emissions From Solid-State Dye-Doped Polymers, Chie Haw Lim

Student Works (2000-2009)

Laser emissions were obtained from dye-doped polymers, namely, C460/PMMA, R6G(ClO₄)/PMMA, C460/PVA and R6G(ClO₄)/PVA, under the excitation from a Transversely Excited (TE) nitrogen laser. C460/PMMA and R6G(ClO₄)/PMMA slabs were fabricated by using a low-pressure-compression molding method; whereas C460/PVA and R6G(ClO₄)/PVA films were fabricated in the form of thin films by using the dip-coat method. Laser efficiencies of 8.7% and 3% were achieved from the optimum dye concentrations of R6G(ClO₄)/PMMA (1 x 10⁻³ M) and C460/PMMA (2.25 x 10⁻² M) respectively. For dye-doped PV A thin films, the laser efficiencies of 8.27% and 6.3% were obtained from the optimum dye concentrations of …