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Full-Text Articles in Materials Science and Engineering

Interplay Of Quantum Size Effect, Anisotropy And Surface Stress Shapes The Instability Of Thin Metal Films, Mikhail Khenner Aug 2017

Interplay Of Quantum Size Effect, Anisotropy And Surface Stress Shapes The Instability Of Thin Metal Films, Mikhail Khenner

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Morphological instability of a planar surface ([111], [011], or [001]) of an ultra-thin metal film is studied in a parameter space formed by three major effects (the quantum size effect, the surface energy anisotropy and the surface stress) that influence a film dewetting. The analysis is based on the extended Mullins equation, where the effects are cast as functions of the film thickness. The formulation of the quantum size effect (Z. Zhang et al., PRL 80, 5381 (1998)) includes the oscillation of the surface energy with thickness caused by electrons confinement. By systematically comparing the effects, their contributions into the …


Single-Step, Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Methylammonium Bismuth Iodide Thin Films, Xiao Chen Aug 2017

Single-Step, Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition Of Methylammonium Bismuth Iodide Thin Films, Xiao Chen

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Lead halide perovskites (CH3NH3PbI3 and its variants) are promising solar cell absorber materials. Though the reported power conversion efficiencies of lead halide perovskite solar cells (up to 21%) are competitive with commercial silicon solar cells, lead toxicity in these perovskites present a challenge to further scale-up and eventual commercialization. Recently, bismuth (Bi3+) based organic halide perovskite has drawn attention as a substitution for lead-free perovskites, since it is a non-toxic 6p-block element, isoelectronic with Pb2+. Methylammonium bismuth iodide ((CH3NH3)3Bi2I9) is reported …


Open Source 3d Printers: An Appropriate Technology For Building Low Cost Optics Labs For The Developing Communities, Jephias Gwamuri, Joshua M. Pearce Aug 2017

Open Source 3d Printers: An Appropriate Technology For Building Low Cost Optics Labs For The Developing Communities, Jephias Gwamuri, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

The recent introduction of RepRap (self-replicating rapid prototyper) 3-D printers and the resultant open source technological improvements have resulted in affordable 3-D printing, enabling low-cost distributed manufacturing for individuals. This development and others such as the rise of open source-appropriate technology (OSAT) and solar powered 3-D printing are moving 3-D printing from an industry based technology to one that could be used in the developing world for sustainable development. In this paper, we explore some specific technological improvements and how distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printing can be used to provide open-source 3-D printable optics components for developing world communities …


Photodynamic Therapy: Agents And Mechanisms, Rebecca Claire Gilson Aug 2017

Photodynamic Therapy: Agents And Mechanisms, Rebecca Claire Gilson

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Despite enormous efforts, cancer remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality world-wide. The main challenges currently facing cancer therapy include lack of adequate tumor targeting, failure to treat hypoxic tumor cells, and induction therapy resistant tumors. A solution to these limitations can be found in photodynamic therapy (PDT) which combines light and light activatable compounds, photosensitizers (PSs), to produce cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) to damage tumor tissue. This creates a spatiotemporal therapeutic effect, where cell damage only occurs at the intersection of the PS and light. PDT can treat tumors through unique mechanisms which reduce induction of tumor …


Hollow And Porous Plasmonic Nanostructures For Highly Efficient Chemical And Biological Sensing, Keng-Ku Liu Aug 2017

Hollow And Porous Plasmonic Nanostructures For Highly Efficient Chemical And Biological Sensing, Keng-Ku Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) involves the collective and coherent oscillation of dielectrically confined conduction electrons. The LSPR wavelength of noble metal nanoparticles (such as gold, silver and copper), which falls into the visible and near infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, is sensitive to the composition, size, shape, dielectric properties of the surrounding medium, and proximity to other nanostructures (plasmon coupling). Based on the sensitivity of the surface plasmon resonance to the changes in the dielectric properties of the surrounding medium and the enhancement of the electromagnetic (EM) field in proximity of metal nanostructures, two important classes of plasmonic …


Amorphous Boron Nanorod As An Anode Material For Lithium-Ion Batteries At Room Temperature, Changjian Deng, Miu Lun Lau, Riley Parrish, Kassiopeia A. Smith, Hui Xiong Aug 2017

Amorphous Boron Nanorod As An Anode Material For Lithium-Ion Batteries At Room Temperature, Changjian Deng, Miu Lun Lau, Riley Parrish, Kassiopeia A. Smith, Hui Xiong

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report an amorphous boron nanorod anode material for lithium-ion batteries prepared through smelting non-toxic boron oxide in liquid lithium. Boron in theory can provide capacity as high as 3099 mAh g-1 by alloying with Li to form B4Li5. However, experimental studies of boron anode were rarely reported for room temperature lithium-ion batteries. Among the reported studies the electrochemical activity and cycling performance of bulk crystalline boron anode material are poor at room temperature. In this work, we utilized amorphous nanostructured one-dimensional (1D) boron material aiming at improving the electrochemical reactivity between boron and lithium ions …


General Design Procedures For Airport-Based Solar Photovoltaic Systems, Anurag Anurag, Jiemin Zhang, Jephias Gwamuri, Joshua M. Pearce Aug 2017

General Design Procedures For Airport-Based Solar Photovoltaic Systems, Anurag Anurag, Jiemin Zhang, Jephias Gwamuri, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

A source of large surface areas for solar photovoltaic (PV) farms that has been largely overlooked in the 13,000 United States of America (U.S.) airports. This paper hopes to enable PV deployments in most airports by providing an approach to overcome the three primary challenges identified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): (1) reflectivity and glare; (2) radar interference; and (3) physical penetration of airspace. First, these challenges and precautions that must be adhered to for safe PV projects deployment at airports are reviewed and summarized. Since one of the core concerns for PV and airport symbiosis is solar panel …


Analysis Of Variable Insensitive Friction Stir Welding Parameters, Robert L. Marrero Jr Aug 2017

Analysis Of Variable Insensitive Friction Stir Welding Parameters, Robert L. Marrero Jr

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Friction Stir Welding (FSW) was used to perform a Design of Experiment (DOE) to determine the welding parameters effects on yielding consistent mechanical properties across the length of the weld. The travel speed was varied across set forge force and RPM conditions, to find a dataset that will yield consistent mechanical properties independent of the travel speed. Six different welds were completed on two different aluminum panels, the advancing side being Aluminum alloy 2195-T8 at a thickness of .350”, with the retreating side being Aluminum alloy 2219-T851 with a gauge thickness of .360”. A Left-hand Right-hand self-reacting pin tool was …


Investigation Of Build Strategies For A Hybrid Manufacturing Process Progress On Ti-6al-4v, Lei Yan, Leon Hill, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk Aug 2017

Investigation Of Build Strategies For A Hybrid Manufacturing Process Progress On Ti-6al-4v, Lei Yan, Leon Hill, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The various processing parameters of a hybrid manufacturing process, including deposition and machining, is being investigated with a Design of Experiment (DoE). The intent was to explore the effect of different build strategies on the final part’s Vickers hardness, tensile test, fatigue life, and microstructure. From this experiment, the processing parameters can be linked to various mechanical properties. This will lead to the ability to create a combination of deposition and machining parameters, which will result in improved mechanical properties.


Fabricating Zirconia Parts With Organic Support Material By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Andrew Scherff, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas Aug 2017

Fabricating Zirconia Parts With Organic Support Material By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Andrew Scherff, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) is an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process recently developed for fabricating dense, functional ceramic components. This paper presents a further development of this process and focuses on fabricating 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) components that cannot be fabricated without using support structures. The 3YSZ paste is deposited through the main nozzle, and a polycaprolactone (PCL) pellet feedstock is melted and deposited through an auxiliary nozzle to build support structures. After a green part is printed and dried, the support structures are removed by heating the part to ~70 ⁰C to melt the PCL. The part is then …


Building Zr-Based Metallic Glass Part On Ti-6al-4v Substrate By Laser-Foil-Printing Additive Manufacturing, Yingqi Li, Yiyu Shen, Ming-Chuan Leu, Hai-Lung Tsai Aug 2017

Building Zr-Based Metallic Glass Part On Ti-6al-4v Substrate By Laser-Foil-Printing Additive Manufacturing, Yingqi Li, Yiyu Shen, Ming-Chuan Leu, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Through using Zr intermediate layers, Zr52.5Ti5Al10Ni14.6Cu17.9 metallic glass (MG) parts are successfully built on Ti-6Al-4V substrates by laser-foil-printing (LFP) additive manufacturing technology in which MG foils are laser welded layer-by-layer onto the substrate. The printed MG part is free of porosity, cracking and crystallization; additionally, its glass transition temperature, crystallization temperature, micro-hardness, and tensile strength are very similar to the original MG material. The Zr intermediate layers are aimed at preventing direct interaction between the first layer of MG foil and the Ti substrate; otherwise, the welded MG foils would peel …


Bonding Of 304l Stainless Steel To Cast Iron By Selective Laser Melting, Baily Thomas, Austin T. Sutton, Ming-Chuan Leu, Nikhil Doiphode Aug 2017

Bonding Of 304l Stainless Steel To Cast Iron By Selective Laser Melting, Baily Thomas, Austin T. Sutton, Ming-Chuan Leu, Nikhil Doiphode

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

While cast iron is widely used in industry, a major limitation is the weldability of a dissimilar material onto cast iron due to hot cracking as a result of lack of ductility from graphite flakes. Consequently, a significant amount of preheat is often employed to reduce the cooling rate in the fusion zone, which, however, may lead to distortion of the welded parts. A potential remedy could be the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process, where only small melt pools are created and thus the overall energy input is reduced. The present paper describes an investigation of the SLM process to …


A Two-Dimensional Simulation Of Grain Structure Growth Within Substrate And Fusion Zone During Direct Metal Deposition, Jingwei Zhang, Wei Li, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk Aug 2017

A Two-Dimensional Simulation Of Grain Structure Growth Within Substrate And Fusion Zone During Direct Metal Deposition, Jingwei Zhang, Wei Li, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a predictive model based on a cellular automaton (CA)-finite element (FE) method has been developed to simulate thermal history and microstructure evolution during metal solidification for a laser-based additive manufacturing process. The macroscopic FE calculation that is validated by thermocouple experiment is designed to update the temperature field and a high cooling rate. A cellular automata-finite element (CAFE) method is developed to describe grain growth in the fusion zone. In the mesoscopic CA model, heterogeneous nucleation sites, grain growth orientation and rate, epitaxial growth, remelting of preexisting grains, metal addition, grain competitive growth, and columnar to equiaxed …


Influence Of Adsorbed And Nonadsorbed Polymer Additives On The Viscosity Of Magnesium Oxide Suspensions, Lisa R. Murray, Jason E Bice, Emily G. Soltys, Christopher Perge, Sebastien Manneville, Kendra Erk Aug 2017

Influence Of Adsorbed And Nonadsorbed Polymer Additives On The Viscosity Of Magnesium Oxide Suspensions, Lisa R. Murray, Jason E Bice, Emily G. Soltys, Christopher Perge, Sebastien Manneville, Kendra Erk

School of Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Adsorbed polymer additives have been employed to reduce water content and improve cement workability through lowering viscosity, but the influence of over-dosage and the presence of nonadsorbed chains have yet to be fully understood. Model magnesium oxide (MgO) suspensions were used to investigate the potential processing effect of “free” chain concentration on cementitious mixtures. The rheological impact of the free chains was measured through incorporation of nonadsorbing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) to suspensions stabilized with an adsorbed comb-polymer superplasticizer. Analyses of the rheological data, that showed viscosity-increases and viscosity-reduction due to free PEG concentrations revealed a transition from depletion flocculation to …


Mechanical Properties Of 304l Parts Made By Laser-Foil-Printing Technology, Chia-Hung Hung, Yiyu Shen, Ming-Chuan Leu, Hai-Lung Tsai Aug 2017

Mechanical Properties Of 304l Parts Made By Laser-Foil-Printing Technology, Chia-Hung Hung, Yiyu Shen, Ming-Chuan Leu, Hai-Lung Tsai

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Laser-Foil-Printing (LFP) is a novel laminated object manufacturing process for metal additive manufacturing. It fabricates three-dimensional metal parts by using a dual-laser system to weld and cut metal foils layer by layer. A main advantage of LFP is the higher cooling rate compared to powder-based laser additive manufacturing processes due to the thermal conductivity difference between foil and powder. This study focuses on the mechanical properties of 304L stainless steel parts built by the LFP process. The experimental results indicate that the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of LFP fabricated 304L SS parts are higher by 9% and 8% …


Design And Fabrication Of Functionally Graded Material From Ti To Γ-Tial By Laser Metal Deposition, Xueyang Chen, Lei Yan, Joseph William Newkirk, Frank W. Liou Aug 2017

Design And Fabrication Of Functionally Graded Material From Ti To Γ-Tial By Laser Metal Deposition, Xueyang Chen, Lei Yan, Joseph William Newkirk, Frank W. Liou

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Functionally graded material (FGM) is one kind of advanced material characterized by a gradual change in properties as the position varies. The spatial variation of compositional and microstructure over volume is aimed to control corresponding functional properties. In this research, when 100% γ-TiAl was directly deposited on pure Ti substrate, cracks were formed within the γ-TiAl layer. Then a six-layer crack-free functionally graded material of Ti/TiAl was designed and fabricated by laser metal deposition (LMD) method, with composition changing from pure Ti on one side to 100% γ-TiAl on the other side. The fabricated FGM was characterized for material properties …


Effects Of Area Fraction And Part Spacing On Degradation Of 304l Stainless Steel Powder In Selective Laser Melting, Cairlin S. Kriewall, Austin T. Sutton, Sreekar Karnati, Joseph William Newkirk, Ming-Chuan Leu Aug 2017

Effects Of Area Fraction And Part Spacing On Degradation Of 304l Stainless Steel Powder In Selective Laser Melting, Cairlin S. Kriewall, Austin T. Sutton, Sreekar Karnati, Joseph William Newkirk, Ming-Chuan Leu

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In selective laser melting (SLM) systems, a large portion of powder remains unconsolidated and therefore recycling powder could make SLM more economical. Currently, a lack of literature exists specifically targeted at studying the reusability of powder. Furthermore, the definition of powder reusability is complex since powder degradation depends on many factors. The goal of the current research is to investigate the effects of area fraction and part spacing on the degradation of 304L powder in SLM. An experimental study was conducted where various area fractions and part distances were chosen and powder characterization techniques for determination of particle size distributions, …


Studying Chromium And Nickel Equivalency To Identify Viable Additive Manufacturing Stainless Steel Chemistries, Zachary T. Hilton, Joseph William Newkirk, Ronald J. O'Malley Aug 2017

Studying Chromium And Nickel Equivalency To Identify Viable Additive Manufacturing Stainless Steel Chemistries, Zachary T. Hilton, Joseph William Newkirk, Ronald J. O'Malley

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Chromium and nickel equivalency modeling has long been used in welding to determine the weldability of steel chemistries. A study was conducted to determine the applicability of Cr-Ni modeling to the additive manufacturing process. Many AM methods involve rapid solidification of small melt pools, similar to welding. Chemistries with varying Cr/Ni ratios were selected for use in a selective laser melting process and modeled using known models. Initial results indicate that the standard "safe welding zone" may not directly apply to additive manufacturing. The capability to build with chemistries outside the weldability “safe zone” could result in improved and varied …


Aluminum Matrix Syntactic Foam Fabricated With Additive Manufacturing, M. Spratt, Joseph William Newkirk, K. Chandrashekhara Aug 2017

Aluminum Matrix Syntactic Foam Fabricated With Additive Manufacturing, M. Spratt, Joseph William Newkirk, K. Chandrashekhara

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Syntactic foams are lightweight structural composites with hollow reinforcing particles embedded in a soft matrix. These materials have applications in transportation, packaging, and armor due to properties such as relatively high specific stiffness, acoustic dampening, and impact absorption. Aluminum matrices are the most widely studied of metal matrix syntactic foams, but there is little to no research in regards to processing the foams with additive manufacturing. It is theorized that the fast cooling rates and limited kinetic energy input of additive could reduce two issues commonly associated with processing syntactic foams: microsphere flotation in the melt and microsphere fracture during …


Characterization Of Heat-Affected Powder Generated During Selective Laser Melting Of 304l Stainless Steel Powder, Austin T. Sutton, Caitlin S. Kriewall, Ming-Chuan Leu, Joseph William Newkirk Aug 2017

Characterization Of Heat-Affected Powder Generated During Selective Laser Melting Of 304l Stainless Steel Powder, Austin T. Sutton, Caitlin S. Kriewall, Ming-Chuan Leu, Joseph William Newkirk

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The selective laser melting (SLM) process is an Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a laser to fuse successive layers of powder into near fully dense components. Due to the large energy input from the laser during processing, vaporization and instabilities in the melt pool occur causing the formation of condensate and laser spatter, collectively known as heat-affected powder. Since heat-affected powder settles into the powder bed, the properties of the unconsolidated powder may be altered compromising its reusability. In this study, characterization of 304L heat-affected powder was performed through particle size distribution measurements, x-ray diffraction, metallography, energy-dispersive spectroscopy mapping, …


Influence Of Gage Length On Miniature Tensile Characterization Of Powder Bed Fabricated 304l Stainless Steel, Sreekar Karnati, Jack L. Hoerchler, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk Aug 2017

Influence Of Gage Length On Miniature Tensile Characterization Of Powder Bed Fabricated 304l Stainless Steel, Sreekar Karnati, Jack L. Hoerchler, Frank W. Liou, Joseph William Newkirk

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Miniature tensile specimens with varying aspect ratios were fabricated from 304L stainless steel (SS) made using powder bed additive manufacturing (AM) process. The tensile characteristics measured from these specimens were analyzed to assess the impact of gage length. The study found no impact upon varying gage length on yield and ultimate strength measurements. However, a significant impact was observed on strain measurements. This data was also used to perform Weibull statistics to estimate the stochastic performance of the material. Fractography was performed to visually identify the types of flaws. A comparative study with specimens fabricated from cold rolled annealed 304 …


Fabricating Zirconia Components With Organic Support Material By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Andrew Scherff, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas Aug 2017

Fabricating Zirconia Components With Organic Support Material By The Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion Process, Wenbin Li, Amir Ghazanfari, Devin Mcmillen, Andrew Scherff, Ming-Chuan Leu, Greg Hilmas

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Ceramic On-Demand Extrusion (CODE) is an extrusion-based additive manufacturing process recently developed for fabricating dense, functional ceramic components. This paper presents a further development of this process and focuses on fabricating 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) components that cannot be fabricated without using support structures. The 3YSZ paste is deposited through the main nozzle, and a polycaprolactone (PCL) pellet feedstock is melted and deposited through an auxiliary nozzle to build support structures. After a green part is printed and dried, the support structures are removed by heating the part to ~70°C to melt the PCL. The part is then sintered …


Metrology Of Dna Arrays By Super-Resolution Microscopy, Christopher M. Green, Kelly Schutt, Noah Morris, Reza M. Zadegan, William L. Hughes, Wan Kuang, Elton Graugnard Aug 2017

Metrology Of Dna Arrays By Super-Resolution Microscopy, Christopher M. Green, Kelly Schutt, Noah Morris, Reza M. Zadegan, William L. Hughes, Wan Kuang, Elton Graugnard

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent results in the assembly of DNA into structures and arrays with nanoscale features and patterns have opened the possibility of using DNA for sub-10 nm lithographic patterning of semiconductor devices. Super-resolution microscopy is being actively developed for DNA-based imaging and is compatible with inline optical metrology techniques for high volume manufacturing. Here, we combine DNA tile assembly with state-dependent super-resolution microscopy to introduce crystal-PAINT as a novel approach for metrology of DNA arrays. Using this approach, we demonstrate optical imaging and characterization of DNA arrays revealing grain boundaries and the temperature dependence of array quality. For finite arrays, analysis …


Modeling Micro-Porous Surfaces For Secondary Electron Emission Control To Suppress Multipactor, James M. Sattler, Ronald Coutu Jr., Robert A. Lake, Tod V. Laurvick, Tyson C. Back, Steven. B. Fairchild Aug 2017

Modeling Micro-Porous Surfaces For Secondary Electron Emission Control To Suppress Multipactor, James M. Sattler, Ronald Coutu Jr., Robert A. Lake, Tod V. Laurvick, Tyson C. Back, Steven. B. Fairchild

Faculty Publications

This work seeks to understand how the topography of a surface can be engineered to control secondary electron emission (SEE) for multipactor suppression. Two unique, semi-empirical models for the secondary electron yield (SEY) of a micro-porous surface are derived and compared. The first model is based on a two-dimensional (2D) pore geometry. The second model is based on a three-dimensional (3D) pore geometry. The SEY of both models is shown to depend on two categories of surface parameters: chemistry and topography. An important parameter in these models is the probability of electron emissions to escape the surface pores. This probability …


Microstructure Evolution During Compaction Of Powder Blends, Ayush Giri, Marcial Gonzalez, Yasasvi Bommire Aug 2017

Microstructure Evolution During Compaction Of Powder Blends, Ayush Giri, Marcial Gonzalez, Yasasvi Bommire

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Powder compaction is a manufacturing technology used to transform powder particles into a solid material with unique anisotropic microstructure and low porosity. It is widely used by pharmaceutical companies to manufacture tablets with desired properties. These properties are the result of the microstructure obtained during the compaction process. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the mechanics underneath the constituent granular particles that eventually contribute to properties of the manufactured tablets. Computational simulation tools have been developed in the past to study powder compaction for pharmaceutical tablets. However, most of the already existing tools limit their scope to study individual particles …


Investigating Tantalum As A Plasma-Facing Component For Nuclear Fusion Reactors, Arvind Sundaram, Jitendra K. Tripathi, Theodore J. Novakowski, Ahmed Hassanein Ph. D. Aug 2017

Investigating Tantalum As A Plasma-Facing Component For Nuclear Fusion Reactors, Arvind Sundaram, Jitendra K. Tripathi, Theodore J. Novakowski, Ahmed Hassanein Ph. D.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Nuclear fusion is a potential source for producing unlimited environment-friendly energy. Tungsten (W) is selected as the primary candidate material for plasma facing component in nuclear fusion reactors due to its high melting temperature (3695 K), low sputtering erosion yield and strong mechanical properties. However, recent investigations on W have confirmed that it undergoes severe surface morphology changes during low energy He plasma and/or ion irradiation similar to a harsh fusion environment. Additionally, our previous studies indicate that tantalum (Ta) may show better resistance to the harsh radiation environment and is therefore worthy of investigation. Hydrogen retention properties, specifically deuterium …


Understanding Powder Compaction With Single Particle Measurements, Wentao Chen, Ankit Agarwal, Marcial Gonzalez Aug 2017

Understanding Powder Compaction With Single Particle Measurements, Wentao Chen, Ankit Agarwal, Marcial Gonzalez

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Powder compaction is the process of transforming granular media into a solid body with a high relative density (low porosity) and a unique anisotropic microstructure. It is critical to understand the physical mechanisms of the compaction process in order to identify powder properties and optimal process parameters for achieving desired properties of the final product. Tools that can simulate particle rearrangement and deformation during the compaction process are usually developed to guide such fundamental understanding. This study aims at understanding powder compaction using particle mechanics approach. Specifically, it employs the nonlocal contact formulation to predict the contact behavior of a …


Simulating Dynamic Failure Of Polymer-Bonded Explosives Under Periodic Excitation, Rachel Kohler, Camilo Duarte Cordon, Marisol Koslowski Aug 2017

Simulating Dynamic Failure Of Polymer-Bonded Explosives Under Periodic Excitation, Rachel Kohler, Camilo Duarte Cordon, Marisol Koslowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Accidental mishandling of explosive materials leads to thousands of injuries in the US every year. Understanding the mechanisms behind the detonation process is crucial to prevent such accidents. In polymer-bonded explosives (PBX), high-frequency mechanical excitation generates thermal energy and can lead to an increase in temperature and vapor pressure, and potentially the initiation of the detonation process. However, the mechanisms behind this energy release, such as the effects of dynamic fracture and friction, are not well understood. Experimental data is difficult to collect due to the different time scales of reactions and vibrations, so research is aided by running simulations …


Modelling Catalytic Structures With Python And Ase, Tommie L. Day, Peilin Liao, Pilsun Yoo Aug 2017

Modelling Catalytic Structures With Python And Ase, Tommie L. Day, Peilin Liao, Pilsun Yoo

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Voltaic cells hold great potential as a source of clean electricity generation. These fuel sources are more efficient than combustion engines, and they do not produce environmentally harmful by-products. The electrochemical reaction which occurs within the cell is typically catalyzed by platinum, which increases the cost. The search for a better performing, less expensive catalyst is hindered by the lack of a complete, predictive theory of catalysis. Using Quantum Espresso and the Atomic Simulation Environment library for Python, we created a tool for nanoHUB.org which can visually and computationally model catalytic surfaces. This tool can simulate nanoparticles and metallic surfaces …


Irradiation-Induced Nanocluster Evolution, Didier Ishimwe, Matthew J. Swenson, Janelle P. Wharry Aug 2017

Irradiation-Induced Nanocluster Evolution, Didier Ishimwe, Matthew J. Swenson, Janelle P. Wharry

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Oxide dispersion strengthened steel (ODS) and commercial ferritic-martensitic (F-M) alloys are widely accepted candidate structural materials for designing advanced nuclear reactors. Nanoclusters embedded in the steel matrix are key microstructural features of both alloy types. Irradiation from nuclear fusion and fission affects the morphology of these nanoparticles, altering the performance of the alloys and potentially decreasing their usable lifetime. Thus, it is important to understand the effect of irradiation on these nanoparticles in order to predict long-term nuclear reactor performance. It was found that the evolution of nanoclusters in each material is different depending on the experimental irradiation parameters. The …