Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Capillary Flow Of Liquid Aluminum Alloy In Wetting And Wetting/Non-Wetting Systems, Yangyang Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

In this dissertation, the capillary flow of liquid aluminum alloy in both wetting and wetting/non-wetting systems is investigated.

The impact of gravity and surface topography on the capillary flow has been studied in a wetting/non-wetting assembly (an AA3003/Al₂O₃ wedge-tee configuration). The research includes (i) kinetics of liquid Al-Si-K_xAl_yF_z alloy triple line movements and dynamic macro advancing and receding contact angles and (ii) free surface profiles of the molten alloy driven by surface tension and impacted by gravity. A trade-off between the surface tension and gravity force has been found by calculating the …

Carbon Oxidation At The Atomic Level: A Computational Study On Oxidative Graphene Etching And Pitting Of Graphitic Carbon Surfaces, Simon Schmitt

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

In order to understand the oxidation of solid carbon materials by oxygen-containing gases, carbon oxidation has to be studied on the atomic level where the surface reactions occur. Graphene and graphite are etched by oxygen to form characteristic pits that are scattered across the material surface, and pitting in turn leads to microstructural changes that determine the macroscopic oxidation behavior. While this is a well-documented phenomenon, it is heretofore poorly understood due to the notorious difficulty of experiments and a lack of comprehensive computational studies. The main objective of the present work is the development of a computational framework from …

Additive Manufacturing Of Engineered Material Systems For Energy Applications, Luis Angel Chavez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Despite increasing efforts to use renewable electricity generation techniques in the last couple of decades, the world is still heavily reliant on traditional power generation techniques. This creates the need to make such systems cheaper and less pollutant through improvements to their efficiency. Increasing the efficiency and reliability of energy conversion systems, specially those based on combustion processes has been of interest for many years. However, material limitations have brought these systems to a stagnant condition.

A novel approach to help increase the efficiency of such systems is to closely monitor their operating conditions and therefore be able to increase …

Non-Linear Inverse Liquid-Solid Chromatography As A Methodology To Characterize Drug Concentration Losses To Polymeric Materials Used In Body-On-A-Chip Devices For Drug Discovery, Mark Schnepper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Body-on-a-chip and human-on-a-chip systems are currently being used to augment and could eventually replace animal models in drug discovery and basic biological research. However, hydrophobic molecules, especially therapeutic compounds, tend to adsorb to the polymer materials used to create these microfluidic platforms, which may distort the dose-response curves that feed into Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) models which translate preclinical data into predictions of clinical outcomes. Adsorption of hydrophobic molecules to these polymer materials needs better characterization. Inverse Liquid-Solid Chromatography paired with a numerical optimization based on the Langmuir model of adsorption was used to characterize the adsorption isotherm parameters of selected drugs …

Development Of Facile Microfabrication Technologies For The Fabrication And Characterization Of Multimodal Impedimetric, Plasmonic, And Electrophysiological Biosensors, Cacie Hart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The objective of this dissertation was to develop novel methods of patterning inorganic and organic materials, develop biocompatibility evaluations, and subsequently apply these methods toward developing biosensors and lab-on-a-chip devices, such as Interdigitated Electrodes (IDEs) and Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs) on non-traditional (such as nanostructured and plasmonic) polymer substrates or deploy these methods to enhance precision cellular placement on traditional (glass) MEA substrates. It was hypothesized that a combination of such facile microfabrication techniques and patterning technologies on traditional and non-traditional substrates would increase the sensitivity and selectivity of such sensor platforms by several orders of magnitude, and potentially introduce new …

Diffusion Of Fission Products In Nuclear Graphite, Kevin Graydon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The next generation of nuclear reactors (Generation IV) are specified to use graphite as the choice material for neutron moderation and structural components. For this reason, study of diffusion behavior of the fission product, ruthenium (Ru), in the candidate graphite grades, POCO AXF-5Q & ZXF-5Q, IG-110, NBG-18 and PCEA, is necessary. Diffusion data for Ru in these grades is absent due to the lack of prior studies and this work aims to fill this void and begin the study of this metallic fission product's diffusion behavior. By utilizing physical vapor deposition (PVD), dynamic secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), and the …

Understanding Solidification Behavior Of Selected Aluminum And Magnesium Alloys Additively Manufactured By Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Holden Hyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, has demonstrated the ability to produce customized, complex engineering components from metallic alloys, not previously possible with traditional techniques such as subtractive machining of cast alloys. However, many desired lightweight metallic alloys such as high strength aluminum (Al) and magnesium (Mg) alloys, cannot be processed dense with AM due to the consequence of solidification cracking. Thus, a large knowledge gap remains in assessing already existing, and genesis of new alloys that can be processed dense by AM, without solidification cracking. The present work investigates the AM processing and solidification behavior of selected …

The Effects Of Carbon Equivalent, Return Ratios, Mold Preparation, Riser Feed And Casting Temperature On The Microstructural And Mechanical Properties Of 100-70-03 Pearlitic Ductile Iron, Erin Vandusen

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The most common and costly detriments to ductile iron foundries are casting defects, particularly in new and complex components. The ability to understand the factors and processes that create microstructures and the associated properties would allow accurate virtual predictions of casting outcomes. An experimental study of standard foundry variables, carbon equivalent, return ratio, mold preparation, riser feed, and casting temperature on a target of 100-70-03 pearlitic, hypereutectic ductile iron provided the groundwork for an ICME database. Density decreased when the fraction of graphite nodules was greater due to the low density of graphite. A greater percentage of return scrap and …

Gravity-Drawing Flexible Silicone Filaments As Fiber Optics And Model Foldamers, Katherine Snell

CMC Senior Theses

Here, we present a method of gravity-drawing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) silicone fibers with application as fiber optics and as model foldamers. Beginning as a viscous liquid, PDMS is cured using heat until its measured viscosity reaches 4000 mPa•s. The semi-cured elastomer is then extruded through a tube furnace to produce thin (diameters on the order of hundred micrometers) filaments with scalable lengths. PDMS is biocompatible, gas-permeable, flexible, and hydrophobic. Additionally, the PDMS surface hydrophobicity can be modified via UV exposure, O2 plasma, and corona discharge. We demonstrate the patternibility (i.e patterns of hydrophobicity) of PDMS fibers, adding complexity to potential foldamer …

Magnetism In Γ-Fesi2 Nanostructures: A First Principles Study, Sahil Dhoka

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

First-principles calculations are performed on γ-FeSi₂ nanostructures grown on Si (111) and (001) substrate. An attempt to explain the origin of emergent magnetic properties of the metastable gamma phase of iron di-silicide (γ-FeSi₂) is made, which show ferromagnetic behavior on nanoscale, unlike its possible bulk form. Many papers try to explain this magnetism from factors like bulk, epitaxial strain, interface, surface, edges, and corners but doesn’t provide an analytical study for these explanations. Density functional theory is used to analyze the magnetic effects of these factors. The results for the epitaxial structures show no magnetic behavior for …

Multiscale Modeling Of Carbon Fibers/Graphene Nanoplatelets/Epoxy Hybrid Composites For Aerospace Applications, Hashim Al Mahmud

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Significant research effort has been dedicated for decades to improve the mechanical properties of aerospace polymer-based composite materials. Lightweight epoxy-based composite materials have increasingly replaced the comparatively heavy and expensive metal alloys used in aeronautical and aerospace structural components. In particular, carbon fibers (CF)/graphene nanoplatelets (GNP)/epoxy hybrid composites can be used for this purpose owing to their high specific stiffness and strength. Therefore, this work has been completed to design, predict, and optimize the effective mechanical properties of CF/GNP/epoxy composite materials at different length scales using a multiscale modeling approach. The work-flow of modeling involves a first step of using …

Effect Of Cerium And Magnesium Additions On The Strength And Morphology Of The Intermetallic Compound Layers In Aluminum-Steel Dissimilar Castings, Matt Thomas

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Dissimilar castings are under investigation due to their light-weighting opportunities within the automotive industry. In this case, dissimilar castings consist of a solid steel core and a poured aluminum component. The strength and integrity of the casting relies on the coherency of the bond between the two components; by optimizing the metallurgical component of the bonding phenomena, the weight and complexity of the insert can be reduced, further increasing the light-weighting opportunities. An interface comprised of intermetallics, generally Fe₄Al₁₃ and Fe₂Al₅, forms between the two components with the latter forming nearest the steel. …

Effects Of Oxygen Modification On The Structural And Magnetic Properties Of Highly Epitaxial La0.7sr0.3mno3 (Lsmo) Thin Films, Shalini Kumari, Navid Mottaghi, Chih-Yeh Huang, Robbyn Trappen, Ghadendra Bhandari, Saeed Yousefi, Guerau Cabrera, Mohindar S. Seehra, Mikel B. Holcomb

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

La0.7Sr0.3MnO3, a strong semi-metallic ferromagnet having robust spin polarization and magnetic transition temperature (TC) well above 300 K, has attracted significant attention as a possible candidate for a wide range of memory, spintronic, and multifunctional devices. Since varying the oxygen partial pressure during growth is likely to change the structural and other physical functionalities of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) films, here we report detailed investigations on structure, along with magnetic behavior of LSMO films with same thickness (~30 nm) but synthesized at various oxygen partial pressures: 10, 30, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mTorr. The observation of only ( …

การสังเคราะห์โบรอนคาร์ไบด์จากรังไหมและกรดบอริก, กานต์ชนก ภูผาทอง

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

โบรอนคาร์ไบด์เป็นวัสดุที่ได้รับความสนใจอย่างแพร่หลาย เนื่องจากมีความแข็งสูงประกอบกับมีสมบัติเชิงกลและทางกายภาพที่เป็นเลิศ จึงถูกนำไปใช้งานที่ต้องการความทนทานในสภาวะพิเศษหลากหลายด้าน ในงานวิจัยนี้ ผู้วิจัยได้มีความพยายามที่จะสังเคราะห์โบรอนคาร์ไบด์ที่อุณหภูมิต่ำ จากรังไหมและกรดบอริก เนื่องจากรังไหมมีหมู่ฟังก์ชันไฮดรอกซิลภายในโครงสร้าง สามารถสร้างพันธะ B-O-C ระหว่างกระบวนการเตรียมสารผสมตั้งต้นร่วมกับกรดบอริก รังไหมจะถูกจุ่มแช่ในสารละลายกรดบอริก จากนั้นนำไปสังเคราะห์โดยผ่านหรือไม่ผ่านขั้นตอนแคลไซน์ ผลิตภัณฑ์จากการสังเคราะห์ได้ถูกนำมาตรวจสอบองค์ประกอบเฟสด้วยเทคนิคการเลี้ยวเบนของรังสีเอ็กซ์ จากการทดลองปรับเปลี่ยนตัวแปรต่างๆในกระบวนการ พบว่า การจุ่มแช่รังไหม 1 กรัม ในสารละลายที่เตรียมกรดบอริก 2 และ 4 กรัม ในน้ำปราศจากไอออน 150 มิลลิลิตร เป็นเวลา 4 ชั่วโมง ณ อุณหภูมิห้อง เมื่อผ่านการอบและสังเคราะห์ที่อุณหภูมิ 1450 องศาเซลเซียส เป็นเวลา 5 ชั่วโมง ในบรรยากาศก๊าซอาร์กอน องค์ประกอบเฟสของผลิตภัณฑ์ประกอบด้วยโบรอนคาร์ไบด์ โดยมีคาร์บอนปรากฏเป็นเฟสหลักอยู่ในระบบ เมื่อลดอุณหภูมิการสังเคราะห์เป็น 1350 องศาเซลเซียส ไม่พบโบรอนคาร์ไบด์ในองค์ประกอบเฟสของผลิตภัณฑ์ นอกจากนี้ เมื่อนำกระบวนการไฮโดรเทอร์มัลที่ 180 องศาเซลเซียส 4 ชั่วโมง มาใช้ร่วมในการสังเคราะห์ พบว่าไม่สามารถพัฒนาการเกิดเฟสโบรอนคาร์ไบด์ให้เพิ่มขึ้น อย่างไรก็ตาม งานวิจัยในส่วนนี้ยังคงต้องการการศึกษาทดลองเพิ่มเติมเพื่อยืนยันผล

การสังเคราะห์โบรอนคาร์ไบด์จากไตรเมทิลบอเรตและแบคทีเรียเซลลูโลส, รณภูมิ ไชยตระการกิจ

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

โบรอนคาร์ไบด์เป็นวัสดุเซรามิกที่มีความแข็งสูงมาก และมีสมบัติเชิงกลยอดเยี่ยมที่อุณหภูมิสูง งานวิจัยนี้มีความพยายามที่จะสังเคราะห์โบรอนคาร์ไบด์ที่อุณหภูมิต่ำด้วยวิธีการคาร์โบเทอร์มิกรีดันชัน โดยใช้สารตั้งต้นได้แก่ ไตรเมทิลบอเรตเป็นแหล่งโบรอนและแบคทีเรียเซลลูโลสเป็นแหล่งคาร์บอน จากการตรวจสอบหมู่ฟังก์ชันของสารผสมตั้งต้น พบพันธะ B-O-C ซึ่งเอื้อต่อการเกิดเฟสโบรอนคาร์ไบด์ในผลิตภัณฑ์ จากการตรวจสอบองค์ประกอบเฟสในผลิตภัณฑ์ที่เตรียมสารผสมตั้งต้นโดยใช้น้ำปราศจากไอออนเป็นตัวทำละลายผ่านการสังเคราะห์ที่อุณหภูมิ 1450 องศาเซลเซียส เป็นเวลา 5 ชั่วโมง ในบรรยากาศก๊าซอาร์กอน โดยไม่ผ่านขั้นตอนการเผาแคลไซน์ พบว่ามีโบรอนคาร์ไบด์เป็นเฟสหลัก และยังคงพบคาร์บอนเป็นมลทินในผลิตภัณฑ์ โครงสร้างจุลภาคของผลิตภัณฑ์ที่สังเคราะห์ได้ประกอบด้วยผลึกโบรอนคาร์ไบด์รูปร่างหลายเหลี่ยมขนาด 1-5 ไมครอน เป็นส่วนใหญ่ โดยมีอนุภาครูปร่างคล้ายแบคทีเรียเซลลูโลสที่ยังไม่ได้ทำปฏิกิริยากระจายในโครงสร้าง

Jominy Hardenability Tester With In-Situ Heating, Luke Allen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project centers on building a Jominy Hardenability tester with In-Situ heating for the manufacturing lab at the University of Akron. A new process and setup will be designed using engineering concepts in order to make the testing more efficient and safer for the teaching and testing of metal hardness. The current Jominy testing setup has efficiency issues within the transfer of specimen from induction heater to testing rig. Our design will simplify the design by creating a test rig that removes the traveling aspect of the specimen which will limit the amount of premature cooling done and will be …

The Corrosion Behavior Of Aisi 304l Stainless Steel In Simulated Concrete Pore Solution. And A New Marketing Plan For Stainless Steel Rebars., Kenny Aronson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project is to study the corrosion behavior of AISI 304L stainless steel, and to present the results for a new marketing strategy for a steel rebar manufacturer. This experiment involved the usage of cyclic potentiodynamic polarization tests to investigate the effect of chlorides on the pitting corrosion behavior of AISI 304L stainless steel in a simulated concrete pore solution with 3.5 wt.% chlorides. The results of this experiment showed that the chlorides caused a large increase in the corrosion current density of AISI 304L stainless steel indicating increased susceptibility to general corrosion and pitting corrosion. The …

Table Top Dome Tester, Travis Bernard, Sarah Kassinger, Amanda O'Reilly, Scott Salerno

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Erichsen Cupping Test was used as a basis to design a dome tester. The intention of a dome tester is to test sheet metal material properties in all directions. This was done by clamping a piece of sheet metal and using a piston and hydraulic press to punch through the material. The force used to punch the material and the height of the deforming material can be gathered and the sheet metal properties can then be calculated. At the end of the project the team was able to successfully design and manufacture a hydraulic dome tester. However, due to …

Advanced Electrodes And Electrolytes For Long-Lived And High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, Deepesh Gopalakrishnan

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

ADVANCED ELECTRODES AND ELECTROLYTES FOR LONG-LIVED AND HIGH-PERFORMANCE LITHIUM-SULFUR BATTERIES

by

DEEPESH GOPALAKRISHNAN

August 2020

Advisor: Dr. Leela Mohana Reddy Arava

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Lithium – Sulfur (Li-S) batteries have received much attention and considered as a promising candidate for next generation energy storage devices because of their high theoretical energy density (≈2600 Wh kg‒1) and environmental friendliness. However, the uncontrollable growth of lithium dendrites in the lithium metal anode and the fatal effect of polysulfide shuttle hinder their practical applications. The formation of dendrites during repeated Li plating/stripping processes results in: reduced Li availability …

Study Of Grain Growth In Single-Phase Polycrystals, Pawan Vedanti

Wayne State University Dissertations

Materials with random microstructure are characterized by additional thermodynamic parameters, entropy and temperature of microstructure. It has been argued that there is one more law of thermodynamics: entropy of microstructure decays in isolated systems. This assertion has been checked experimentally for the process of grain growth which showed that entropy of grain structure decays indeed as expected. The equation of state for microstructure entropy has also been studied. In general, entropy of grain microstructure is expected to be a function of grain structure energy and the average grain size. Our experiments suggest that in fact, the equation of state degenerates …

Experimental Study On The Characteristics Of Formation And Dissociation Of Co2 Hydrates In Porous Media, Amin Hosseini Zadeh, Ijung Kim, Seunghee Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) has pursued as a feasible strategy to store the large amount of CO₂ to curb its emission to the atmosphere in an effort to mitigate the greenhouse effects. CO₂ hydrate, which can form when the pressure and temperature satisfy its stability condition, can provide a self-trapping mechanism for an offshore CO₂ geologic storage. For example, direct sequestration of CO₂ in the form of hydrate cystals an be achieved in the storage zone an potentially provide a secondary caprock. These application, however, require a thorough understanding of the formation and dissociation of CO …

Atomic Layer Deposition Of Oxide Materials For Passivated Carrier Selective Contact Solar Cells, Geoffrey Gregory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Silicon-based devices have dominated the industrial solar cell marketplace for several decades, thanks to the low bulk defect concentration and technological relevance of silicon substrates. This has led to an oversupply of dopant-diffused homojunction technologies, which suffer from significant performance losses at the metal-silicon contact interface. In response, the research community has developed carrier-selective heterojunction contacts, which separate the metal from the silicon absorber with heavily-doped silicon layers. These novel contacts provide the same asymmetrical conductivity as the diffused junction in the previous generations of silicon solar cells, but with less processing complexity and greater device performance. Still, the silicon …

Parametric Investigation And Optimization For Inconel 718 Nickel-Based Superalloy In Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Thinh Huynh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Excellent weldability and high temperature stability make Inconel 718 (IN718) one of the most desired alloys to be produced by additive manufacturing (AM). Within the flourishing field of AM technology, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is a popular prospective candidate capable of fabricating complex and near net-shape engineering components that traditional manufacturing methods cannot accomplish. In this study, the effects of processing parameters on the relative density and microstructure was investigated. Gas atomized IN718 powders were used to fabricate cuboidal specimens via LPBF for metallographic characterization. The specimens were printed with independently varied laser power (125 - 350 W), laser …

Designing Metal Nanocatalysts And Tuning Their Microenvironment For Gas-Involving Electrocatalysis, Lin Hu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In the development of renewable energy technologies, electrocatalysis plays a central role in energy conversion processes, such as fuel cells and electrochemical fuel synthesis. Development of such technologies relies on the rational design of electrocatalysts as well as understanding their interaction with the working environment. Here we focus on gas-involving electrocatalytic reactions, particularly nitrogen electroreduction to ammonia and formic acid electrooxidation to carbon dioxide. First, to understand the structure-activity relationships for nitrogen electroreduction on Ru, we prepared a series of size-controlled Ru nanoparticles using atomic layer deposition. Both catalytic activity and selectivity for ammonia production on Ru catalysts strongly depend …

Mechanical Behavior Assessment Of Ti-6al-4v Alloy Produced By Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Asif Mahmud

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The present work correlates quasi-static, tensile mechanical properties of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 23) alloy to the phase constituents, microstructure and fracture surface characteristics that changed with post-heat treatment of stress relief (670 °C for 5h) and hot isostatic pressing (HIP with 100MPa at 920 °C for 2h). Ti-6Al-4V alloy tensile specimens in both the horizontal (i.e., X and Y) and vertical (Z) directions were produced by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technique. Mechanical properties were determined using quasi-static, tensile testing for both the as-stress-relieved (ASR) and HIP specimens. For the ASR and HIP samples built in X, Y and …

Additive Manufacturing Of Copper-Based Alloy By Laser Powder Bed Fusion, Binghao Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Copper (Cu) and Cu-alloy are good candidates for the engineered components that require good thermal and electrical conductivity. Since industry often needs sophisticated components that cannot be made easily by traditional methods, such as casting, forging and machining, research for additive manufacturing of copper-based alloy is on demand. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the optimization of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of Cu-10 wt.% Sn alloy and pure Cu based on their characteristics such as relative density/porosity, surface roughness, phase constitutes, melt pool dimension, and dendrite arm spacings dimension, determined by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Scanning electron microscope. LPBF, …

Tunable Refractive Index Through Spatially Modified Nanoparticle Films For Long-Range Spr Biosensing Applications, Stephen Joshua Binderup

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Despite optics and refraction being among the oldest scientific principles, material limitations have prevented scientists from taking full advantage of the potential this technology holds. Indeed, films with designer optical properties have potential for use in exotic cloaking architectures, advanced waveguides, and precise optical biosensors. This thesis focuses on the fabrication methodology for making thin films with refractive index tuned to a desired value through self-assembly of amorphous nanoparticle films made of organosilicate materials. The inclusion of a slowly evaporating polymer phase along with the organosilicate nanoparticles results in nanopores formed within the film, which effectively reduce the film’s refractive …

A Foundational Approach To Extrusion And Compounding, David Frankart

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With a history of nearly 200 years, polymer processing and compounding is constantly changing to fit the material science needs of the era. Exposure of undergraduate students to the technology and practices used in industry today in a lab setting would create new opportunities for experiential learning and growth. The objective was to set up a 0.75”, 25 L/D Thermo Haake single screw extruder for lab use and run trials of material in a single screw extruder to set up a basis for experiments. Trials were run of co-polyester resin through a single screw extruder with carbon fiber additives varying …

Galvanic Corrosion In Aluminum/Steel Joints, Maegan Saul

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

As car manufacturers seek to use lighter weight materials, aluminum is being more commonly used in the construction of vehicles. However, the strength of steel cannot be matched and both metals are necessary, leading to the joining of dissimilar metals. This connection of different metals leads to a galvanic coupling and subsequent corrosion of the less noble metal. This project aims to observe the corrosion and galvanic coupling behavior of aluminum alloys and carbon steel so that a model may be produced which can accurately predict the expected responses of the metals in various environments. Better, more accurate modeling of …

Solvent-Free Coating Using Maco Bio-Based Reactive Diluent, Ryder James

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project performed utilizes methacrylated cardanol (MACO) and a linseed oil resin to test how different weight percentages of MACO affect coating performance. MACO is synthesized from a phenolic lipid extracted from cashew nut shells, which are a cashew industry waste product. Not only does it utilize a waste product, but being a bio-based reactive diluent means it can replace the use of volatile organic solvents that are harmful to both humans and the environment. Weight percentage samples of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% were used. Coatings were applied using a 6-mil drawn down bar, with samples being prepared …