Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Electromagnetic Wave Propagation For Industry And Biomedical Applications, Fred Lacy

Faculty Publications

Superconductors have a wide array of applications, such as medical imaging, supercomputing, and electric power transmission, but superconducting materials only operate at very cold temperatures. Thus, the quest to engineer room temperature superconductors is currently a hot topic of research. To accomplish this mission, it is important to have a complete understanding of the material properties that are being used to create these superconductors. Understanding the atomic and electromagnetic properties of the prospective materials will provide tremendous insight into the best choice for the materials. Therefore, a theoretical model that incorporates electromagnetic field theory and quantum mechanics principles is utilized …

Minimizing Leakage In Thin Walled Structures Printed Through Selective Laser Melting, Andrew Spencer Yap

Master's Theses

In this project, the scan strategy of selective laser melting (SLM) for thin walled structures was investigated by changing laser parameters and tool path. Producing thin walled structures is difficult due to defects such as warpage and porosity. A layer on the SLM 125 consists of hatch volume, fill contours, and borders, however, for thin walls, hatch volume can become unavailable, resulting in a solely border/fill contour laser tool path.

Three central composite designs (CCD) were created to optimize the laser parameters of borders to minimize leakage rate and porosity. The two factors changed were border laser power and scanning …

Analysis Of The Use Of Waste Material In 3d Printing, Alexander Laurence

Materials Engineering

Globally, only 9% of plastic by mass is recycled. Allowing consumers to directly convert polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into 3D filament can increase the recycling rate by reducing contamination and costs from traditional large-scale recycling methods. This was tested by heating strips of PET to various temperatures within its glass transition region and pressing a roller with a 1.75 mm indentation against it to observe strip deformation. PET was also placed in a hemispherical well with a 1.75 mm diameter hole at the bottom and heated above its melting temperature to determine the mass of PET required to extrude 3D …

Effect Of Distal Core Flattening On 304 Stainless Steel Guide Wires, Khanh Phan

Materials Engineering

Abbott Vascular produces a variety of medical guide wires to accommodate a wide array of minimally invasive medical procedures. Certain types of these wires have the distal core flattened to improve specific properties such as flexibility and steerability. However, it is unknown how this affects the other mechanical properties of the wire. Abbott Vascular provided two types of wire to test the effects of distal core flattening on the mechanical performance of the wires. One group of wires was made from 304 single spring stainless steel with no flattening performed. The other group of wires was made from 304 triple …

Void And Density Analysis Of Cyanate Ester Composites, Cameron B. Atwood

Materials Engineering

In large scale composite manufacturing, voids and their frequency within prepreg materials play an important role in predicting the mechanical properties of a final composite laminate. The industry standard process for determining voids in composite materials is through resin digestion and resin ignition via ASTM D3171. One limitation to this standard is its ability to frequently produce negative void volume values in quality control testing, due to the calculation sensitivity of input resin and fiber densities. For this reason, Toray Advanced Composites wanted to investigate the process steps of ASTM D3171 to determine if discrepancies in resin density data may …

Removal Of Sb Impurities In Copper Electrolyte And Evaluation Of As And Fe Species In An Electrorefining Plant, Ana I. González De Las Torres, Michael S. Moats, Guillermo Ríos, Ana Rodríguez Almansa, Daniel Sánchez-Rodas

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Antimony and arsenic concentrations and their oxidation states (Sb(III), Sb(V), As(III) and As(V)) in copper electrorefining electrolyte can affect copper cathode quality through the formation of floating slimes. A laboratory-scale pilot plant was operated to remove Sb from commercial electrolyte. The pilot plant consisted of a pre-treatment process with copper shavings followed by ion exchange. The results indicated that Sb(III) was removed from copper electrolyte completely, while Sb(V) was partially eliminated. The concentrations of As(III) and As(V) were not affected, and the poisoning of the ion exchange resin by Fe(III) was avoided by pre-reduction to Fe(II) by copper shavings. The …

Fabricating Tinicu Ternary Shape Memory Alloy By Directed Energy Deposition Via Elemental Metal Powders, Yitao Chen, Xinchang Zhang, Mohammad Masud Parvez, Joseph William Newkirk, Frank W. Liou

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a TiNiCu shape memory alloy single-wall structure was fabricated by the directed energy deposition technique with a mixture of elemental Ti, Ni, and Cu powders following the atomic percentage of Ti50Ni45Cu5 to fully utilize the material flexibility of the additive manufacturing process to develop ternary shape memory alloys. The chemical composition, phase, and material properties at multiple locations along the build direction were studied, using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Vickers hardness test-ing, tensile testing, and differential scanning calorimetry. The location-dependent compositions of martensitic TiNi and austenitic TiNi phases, mechanical properties, and functional properties …

Mechanical Properties, Translucency, And Low Temperature Degradation (Ltd) Of Yttria (3–6 Mol%) Stabilized Zirconia, R. Sharon Uwanyuze, Sulekha Ramesh, Mark K. King, Nathaniel Lawson, Manoj K. Mahapatra

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The mechanical properties (hardness and biaxial flexural strength), optical properties (translucency and gloss), and low temperature degradation (LTD) of 3–6 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia have been investigated. The specimens were prepared by conventional solid-state sintering at 1400 °C. The mechanical and optical properties were evaluated for sintered and polished specimens. X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used, respectively, for structural and microstructural investigation. LTD was determined by XRD analysis of the samples aged in a hydrothermal autoclave at 134 °C for 5–108 h. The mechanical and optical properties are found to be microstructure sensitive. The LTD, due …

Artificial Intelligence In Real-Time Diagnostics And Prognostics Of Composite Materials And Its Uncertainties – A Review, Muthu Ram Prabhu Elenchezhian, Vamsee Vadlamudi, Rassel Raihan, Kenneth Reifsnider, Erick Reifsnider

UTARI Researcher Publications-Archive

In the era of the 4th industrial revolution of big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely used in each and every field of composite materials which includes design and analysis, material storage, manufacturing, non-destructive testing (NDT), Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Prognostics of its Remaining Useful Life (RUL), Material State (MS) and damage modes. While these AI models are rapidly developed and integrated into the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to keep track of the health of a composite material from its birth to death, these integrations remain uncertain for prognostics without the certainty of its previous material state. This …

Enhancement Of Asphalt Performance By Graphene-Based Bitumen Nanocomposites, Sara Moghtadernejad, Ehsan Barjasteh, Ren Nagata, Haia Malabeh

Mineta Transportation Institute

As the State of California continues to grow, demand for enhanced infrastructure such as roadways and highways escalates. In view of the current average highway lifespan of 15–20 years, the improvement of asphalt binders leads to material sustainability by decreasing required maintenance and increasing the lifespan of roadways. In the present investigation, enhancement of asphalt binder properties was achieved by different methods of mixing varying compositions of graphene nanoparticles with an SBS polymer and asphalt binder. Additionally, experimental evaluation and comparison of the rheological and mechanical properties of each specimen is presented. Graphene nanoparticles have attracted great curiosity in the …

High Performance Mixed-Matrix Electrospun Membranes For Ammonium Removal From Wastewaters, Shu-Ting Chen, Sumith Ranil Wickramasinghe, Xianghong Qian

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mixed-matrix electrospun membranes were developed to investigate ammonium removal from low ammonium concentration wastewaters for the first time. Particles derived from the inexpensive zeolite 13X were successfully incorporated into polyethersulfone (PES) matrices. The fabricated mixed-matrix electrospun membranes demonstrate high ammonium removal capacity reaching over 55 mg/g_zeolite, more than 2.5 times higher than the previously fabricated mixed-matrix membranes via non-solvent induced phase inversion. Moreover, the membranes fabricated exhibit high permeability and ease of regeneration. Over 90% of total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) can be removed from low TAN wastewaters such as aquaculture wastewaters. In addition to zeolite 13X, other zeolite …

Newly Developed Antifouling Coating Alloys For Hydraulic Cylinder Applications, Christopher Liam Fahey, Robin Ashley Payne

Materials Engineering

In a marine environment solid surfaces are subject to corrosion and fouling, which is the buildup of unwanted material such as algae and barnacles, that can impede the functionality of components. The application that this project focuses on are hydraulic cylinders. Eight alloys, including three newly developed alloys, were tested for marine fouling performance. Three of the alloys were primarily NiCr, these included Inconel 625, Metco 1720, and P105-X3. Four alloys contained varying amounts of Cu, and these were Monel 400, CuproNickel, Monel 450, and P76-X24. Finally, one sample of a Co-based alloy was also tested, Ultimet. Of the samples …

Life Cycle Assessment Of An Ifixit Pro Tech Toolkit, Camden N. Webb, Dylan A. Ell

Materials Engineering

A life cycle assessment of an iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit was performed to determine the environmental impacts of iFixit’s best-selling toolkit. SimaPro software was used to measure three impact categories: energy usage, water consumption, and global warming potential. This project provides quantitative data on the resources required for repairing devices through use of the toolkit to ultimately reduce the global e-waste stream by re-using electronics. Using the cut-off method, global warming potential of the kit was 4.1 kg of CO₂ equivalents, water consumption was 1.5 m³, and energy usage was 73.9 MJ. Major contributors to these impact …

Dental Cement Thickening Agents For Mudslide Prevention, Kristina Emiliya Babayev, Emily Elizabeth Johnson, Diana Evet Reihaneh

Materials Engineering

The purpose of this project is to develop a non-toxic mud thickening agent for the application of decreasing mudslide intensity where performance is measured by flow rate, viscosity, and toxicity tests. We hypothesized that dental cements could be a potential candidate due to their adhesive, hydrophilic, and biocompatible properties. Zinc phosphate, glass ionomer, and polycarboxylate cement were among the dental cements tested. These tests were performed at low and high concentrations of 25 grams and 125 grams, respectively, mixed into soil to produce 3500 gram samples. The dental cements produced noticeable thickening effects in the mud, as the average viscosity …

Effect Of Dissolved Oxygen On Corrosion Of Carbon And 13cr Steel In A Brine Environment, Kevin Peter Iu, Andy Zhou

Materials Engineering

Oxygen corrosion is a major threat to seawater injection systems that are part of offshore drilling operations. Seawater is typically deoxygenated to an industry standard of(DO) by injection through a deaeration column followed by treatment with oxygen scavenging chemicals. Commercial simulation software like OLI Studio: Corrosion Analyzer predicts high corrosion rates when injection seawater contains high DO levels, justifying deoxygenation. However, a notable lack of experimental data exists concerning the effect of varying levels of dissolved oxygen on corrosion rate. The goal of this project is to measure the effect of three dissolved oxygen levels (0, 62, and 620 ppb) …

Uv Polymerization Of A Zwitterionic Antifouling Membrane Coating, Amanda Jia-Hwa Tsai, Vincent Matthew Guarino

Materials Engineering

Membrane filtration is used in a wide array of industries to separate components in a mixture. Filtration membranes suffer from the external deposition of pollutants and microorganisms, a phenomenon known as fouling. Fouling reduces the lifetime of a membrane and therefore increases production costs. The goal of this project was to modify the surface of a hydrophobic commercial membrane with a charged coating to induce antifouling properties. A zwitterionic monomer, sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), was used for its steric hindrance and hydration shell formation mechanisms, which result in superior non-specific antifouling performance. When polymerizing the coating onto the surface of the …

Effects Of Uv Exposure On The Thermo-Mechanical Properties Of Cactus Based Biopolymers, Madison Glozer, Megan Bolling, Addison Wolfson

Materials Engineering

The viability of renewable biopolymers as sustainable alternatives to synthetic plastics is promising, however ultra-violet (UV) radiation can lead to premature degradation and reduction in the material’s performance. Biopolymers comprised of nopal cactus juice, animal protein, natural wax, and glycerin in differing percentages were studied to obtain thermo-mechanical data in relation to UV exposure. To quantify degradation, dynamic mechanical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, goniometry and gravimetric measurements were performed. Each formulation experienced mass loss as a result of UV exposure, which could be attributed to water evaporation. The thermogravimetric analysis indicated a reduction in the second …

The Effects Of Glass Fiber Fillers On Epoxy Resin Performance, Ashton Robert Reinhold, Manuel Jose Aguirre Ii

Materials Engineering

Premature failure of filtration members in biochemical processing is a costly issue for manufacturers. This research aims to determine whether or not the premature failure due to thermal fatigue in medical filtration devices can be mitigated by glass fiber addition. The study was conducted to identify the effects of e-glass fiber filler content in an epoxy matrix on the mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy system. The epoxy was evaluated over a filler content of 0-50wt% in level increments of 12.5wt% and temperatures ranging from ambient to 160°C in increments of 15°C. Cylindrical and tensile bar specimens were prepared …

Solvent Analysis Of Phenolic Resin Glass Fiber Reinforced Prepreg During Out-Time, Sixin Zhai, Crystal Ipong

Materials Engineering

Phenolic resin glass fiber reinforced prepregs are highly suitable for airplane interior components due to their high fire resistance, high temperature performance, and low-density characteristics. Safran Cabin seeks to improve their storage of the phenolic resin prepreg during their manufacturing process. The issues the company faces are the occasional delamination of prepreg laminas or the loss of tackiness rendering the lamina unfit for use. The area of investigation was determining the weight loss of volatiles during out-time. The term “out-time” consists of the time the prepreg experiences in transit, on the shop floor, and in short-term temperature-controlled storage. Simulated storage …

Reducing The Fouling Of Microfiltration Membranes Through Uv-Initiated Surface Modifications Using Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Based Monomers, Christopher Lo, Matthew Truong

Materials Engineering

Meissner Filtration Product Inc. designs and manufactures membranes for food and beverage, microelectronics, ultrapure chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries. Membrane filters utilized in these industries have lifetimes greatly limited due to membrane fouling. Increasing membrane lifetime will reduce downtime, waste, and cost of operation. The proposed project is aimed to develop a methodology for synthesizing a fouling-resistant polymer coating layer on hydrophobic membrane surfaces for reducing membrane fouling and increasing membrane filterability (membrane lifetime) that are critical for effective membrane operations in the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, commercial membranes were coated with a solution containing a monomer, crosslinker, and photoinitiator …

Development Of A Marine Biodegradable Target Balloon, Blake Samuel Robinson, Arash Sam Akhavi, David Leonardo Albarran-Martinez

Materials Engineering

The US Navy utilizes PVC target balloons, known as Killer Tomatoes, that are inflated onboard a naval vessel then deployed into the ocean to calibrate a variety of weaponry. The Navy has requested the investigation of biodegradable polymers to replace the PVC in attempts to reduce ocean waste that is generated from the leftover PVC material. After communicating with American Pacific Plastic Fabricators (APPF), the current manufacturer of the Killer Tomatoes, we gained an understanding of the manufacturing process and the material requirements that would allow a new material to be integrated into their current process. Two proprietary, trial polymers …

Strengthening Of 7175 Aluminum Alloy Through Multi-Step Aging Process, Colin E. Masterson, Ryland W. Jolliffe

Materials Engineering

7175 is a heat-treatable aluminum alloy commonly used in aerospace forgings. This alloy is aged with a multi-step heat treatment. This treatment must balance strength with stress corrosion cracking resistance through a degree of overaging. The team was tasked by Weber Metals to increase the strength of this treatment without sacrificing stress corrosion cracking resistance. Both two-step and retrogression and reaging treatments were tested in experiments to find a heat treatment that could increase the yield and tensile strength by 1-2 ksi while maintaining a minimum electrochemical conductivity equivalence of 38% relative to copper. Two-step aging is the more conventional …

Pressure Driven Desalination Membranes: Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Containing Single Walled Carbon, Matteo A. Del Giudice, Samantha Castillo Merigold

Materials Engineering

This project presents a potential alternative desalination technique that utilizes the ion rejection properties of single walled carbon nanotubes dispersed in a lyotropic liquid crystal (LLC) matrix. Previous research has pointed to the polymerizable surfactant methacryloxy ethyl hexadecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (C16MA) having capabilities of filtering molecular components smaller than a nanometer, when oriented in cylindrical micelles. SWCNTs were dispersed in deionized water by probe sonication and addition of surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) due to SWCNTs’ hydrophobic properties. Membranes were produced containing 55wt% C16MA, 37wt% DI water, 0.1wt% with respect to the monomer (WRM) SWCNTs, 1.9 wt% WRM 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (photointiator), …

Quantum Transport Of The 2d Surface State In A Nonsymmorphic Semimetal, Xue Liu, Jin Hu, Jiang Wei, Chunlei Yue, Sergey V. Erohin, Yanglin Zhu, Abin Joshy, Jinyu Liu, Ana M. Sanchez, David Graf, Pavel B. Sorokin, Zinqiang Mao

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In a topological semimetal with Dirac or Weyl points, the bulk-boundary correspondence principle predicts a gapless edge mode if the essential symmetry is still preserved at the surface. The detection of such topological surface state has been considered as the fingerprint prove for crystals with nontrivial topological bulk band. On the contrary, it has been proposed that even with symmetry broken at the surface, a new surface band can emerge in nonsymmorphic topological semimetals. The symmetry reduction at the surface lifts the bulk band degeneracies and produces an unusual “floating” surface band with trivial topology. Here, we first report quantum …

Metallurgical And Thermal Processing Investigation Of Additively Manufactured Superalloys Jbk-75 And Nasa-Hr-1, Allyse Birken, Derek Noel

Materials Engineering

Aerojet Rocketdyne is investigating the use of directed energy deposition (DED), an additive manufacturing process, to reduce cost and lead time for manufacturing complex rocket engine components for their RS-25 engines. JBK-75 and NASA-HR-1, two Fe-Ni-base, age-hardenable (γ′) superalloys, are used for nozzle structural jackets and hot gas manifolds. Currently, these parts are produced using traditional forging or casting methods followed by intensive machining operations. Additionally, these alloys were designed for use in the wrought condition and require a different set of post-processing heat treatments when produced using DED due to their dendritic, segregated microstructure in the as-built condition. Homogenization …

Design And Fabrication Of Zinc Oxide Optofluidic Laser Elements, Kyle T. Bodily

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis systematically goes through the derivation, simulation, and experimentation of Zinc Oxide optofluidic micro laser elements. Single and coupled ring resonators were simulated to show single mode transmission as well as enhanced coupling capabilities when surrounded by high refractive index liquid. Devices with diameters ranging from 100-500 µm were successfully fabricated inexpensively through standard cleanroom procedures. The devices were tested using two different pump laser systems. Testing included such factors as high pump intensity, various angles of excitation, and low temperature. In all cases PL emission was observed and recorded.

Novel And Fast Peridynamic Models For Material Degradation And Failure, Siavash Jafarzadeh

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Fracture is one of the main mechanisms of structural failure. Corroded surfaces with chemically-induced damage are, notably, potential sites for crack initiation and propagation in metals, which can lead to catastrophic failure of structures. Despite some progress in simulating fracture and damage using classical models, realistic prediction of complex damage progression and failure has been out of reach for many decades. Peridynamics (PD), a nonlocal theory introduced in 2000, opened up new avenues in modeling material degradation and failure. Existing numerical methods used to discretize PD equations, however, are quite expensive as the PD nonlocal interactions make them unaffordable for …

First-Principles Density Functional Theory Studies On Perovskite Materials, Aneer Lamichhane

Dissertations

Perovskites are a family of materials with a diverse combination of different elements. As a consequence, they exhibit numerous functionalities such as pyroelectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and ferromagnetic with applications in photovoltaic cells, LEDs, superconductivity, colossal magneto-resistance, and topological insulators. After 2009, perovskites have gained notoriety as suitable materials for solar cells and alternative candidates to silicon-based conventional solar cells. Generally, oxide perovskites exhibit good dielectric properties, halide perovskites display good photonic qualities, and chalcogenide perovskites are used in applications in solid-state lighting, sensing, and energy harvesting. In this dissertation, various types of perovskites ranging from oxide to halide are investigated …

Fluorine-Based Inorganic Oxidizers For Use In Metal-Based Reactive Materials, Siva Kumar Valluri

Dissertations

This work explores inorganic fluorides as oxidizers for fuel-rich reactive materials. A preliminary assessment of metal fluorides accounting for their enthalpy of formation points to bismuth (III) fluoride, BiF3 and cobalt (II) fluoride, CoF2 as oxidizers of interest. Initially, composite powders of aluminum with chosen fluorides at 50-50 wt. % are prepared by arrested reactive milling. Despite an increase in reactivity and lowtemperature ignition, the prepared composite powders are insensitive to initiation by electro-static discharge (ESD), making them attractive alternative to analogous thermites having very high ESD sensitivity. In air, the composite powder particles burn faster than reference aluminum particles …

Controlled Reduction Of Graphene Oxide And Graphene Oxide-Carbon Nanotube Hybrids And Their Applications, Samar Azizighannad

Dissertations

Graphene and graphene derivatives are widely used in diverse research and industrial applications. Graphene production on a large scale is carried out by exfoliating graphite oxide and producing graphene oxide (GO), which comprises of graphene sheets with different oxygen-containing functional groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, and carbonyl. GO is reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which has properties that are closer to graphene. Properties of GO and rGO depend upon the oxygen content, and the effect of reducing oxygen content on the aqueous behavior of rGOs is not well understood.

In an effort to understand how properties of rGO change …