Polymer and Organic Materials Commons^™

Investigating Wood Welding Parameters Using A Prototype Welding Machine, Timothy R. Melin

Master's Theses

Understanding how different processing variables influence wood welded bonds is vital if the technique will ever be used to create engineered lumber without using adhesives. A variation of vibration welding, wood welding uses pressure and friction to bond materials together. During welding, heat causes a softening in the wood, a naturally occurring composite material. This softening leads to fiber entanglement and a bond forms upon cooling.

The goal of this research was to investigate several processing aspects of the wood welding procedure. A prototype wood welding machine, designed and fabricated from the ground up, was used to investigate the effects …

Irrigation Leak Detection: Using Flow Rate Sensors To Detect Breaks In An Irrigation System, Adam Openshaw, Kalvin Vu

Computer Engineering

This report details the exploration and invention of a mechanism that can detect breaks in an irrigation system. With the ultimate goal of conserving water, we have designed an inexpensive, self sustaining flow rate monitor that can be used to identify anomalies in an irrigation system and wirelessly communicate the status of the system to a base station. Our implementation can also determine the direction of the anomaly based on the nature of the anomaly itself. This means that multiple monitors can be used to pinpoint the location of a break within the system in addition to merely detecting its …

Validation Of A Secondary Fabric Supplier And Characterization Of Alternate Cores For Use In The Aptera 2e Sandwich Core Composite, Bryan Rogers

Materials Engineering

Polymer matrix composites’ high strength to weight ratio has made them an ideal material choice for use in lightweight transportation vehicles. Aptera Motors, a company based out of Oceanside, CA, is currently developing a next-generation high efficiency passenger vehicle called the Aptera 2e. The 2e’s body is composed of a sandwich core composite containing laminates of E-glass fibers embedded within an epoxy matrix sandwiched between a polyester hexagonal core. This project looked to validate a secondary fabric supplier for use in Aptera’s composite and characterize the core shear properties of two alternate core materials for future iterations of Aptera’s vehicle. …

Determining The Optimal Material For Coffee Packaging: Oxygen Transmission Rates And Ink Abrasion Resistance, Laura Kiyoi

Graphic Communication

No abstract provided.

Optimization Of P3ht-Pcbm Polymer Solar Cells Through Device Simulation And Manufacturing, James Boom

Computer Engineering

Given a good model and implementation of that model, computer simulation can be used to reduce the time and material costs of research. To this end I worked with other students to manufacture, test and simulate the single layer P3HT-PCBM solar cell. Using the data collected from this project, future work can then be done with the project's simulator to further optimize these types of solar cell devices.

Polyenvi, Stephen Beard, Josh Engel, Paul Fake, Diego Flores, Alvaro Nunez, Miguel Wong

Electrical Engineering

Poor indoor air quality is a problem that is recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cause health issues. In order to raise awareness of this problem, this document outlines the construction of a device that economically measures air quality through five metrics: dust, smoke, ozone, humidity, and temperature. The device integrates with a router to provide users access to information about their indoor air quality anywhere over the internet as well as local access to the data via an LCD mounted on the router. By increasing indoor air quality awareness, this device will aid users in making adjustments …

Crosslinked Conventional Size And Nanoparticle Size Acrylic Latexes And Their Blends: Investigation Of The Effects Of Crosslinking, Particle Size And Distribution, Glass Transition Temperature And Blending On Film Formation, Properties And Morphology, Ravi Ghanshyambhai Joshi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Synthetic latexes have many product applications including functioning as a binder in paints and coatings. For many years, researchers in industry as well as in academe have been exploring various strategies to improve performance of acrylic latexes mainly to replace traditionally used solvent borne coatings due to increasing environmental concerns and strict governmental regulations. The main goal of the study is to investigate the effects of type (pre-coalescence or post-coalescence) and level of crosslinking, particle size (nano particle size ~ 20-25 nm vs. conventional particle size ~ 120-130 nm) and distribution, glass transition temperature (Tg), and blending on latex film …

Palm Oil-Based Polyester Binder For Making Fiberboards., Wong Yew Chuan

Student Works (2010-2019)

Palm kernel oil was used as a raw material for the synthesis of polyester polyol.The palm oil based polyester polyol was synthesized using glycerol, phthalic anhydride and fumaric acid. Palm oil based polyester polyol combines with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) to form the polyurethane binder. The fibers are derived from empty fruit bunch (EFB) of the palm tree and have the acceptable mechanical properties. In this project, palm fibers were converted into palm fiberboards by using polyurethane (PU) binder under specified pressure and temperature. The binder to fiber ratio was varied from 10% to 30 % by dried weight of …

Preparation Of Styrene Acrylic Copolymer Toner Resin By Solution Polymerization., Neo Su Siang

Student Works (2010-2019)

This project has investigated solution polymerization to produce toner resins. There are three stages: (i) synthesis of low molecular weight styrene acrylic copolymer; (ii) synthesis of high molecular weight styrene acrylic copolymer; (iii) mixing high and low molecular weight copolymers. Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) was used to study molecular weight distributions, Melt Flow Index (MFI) Instrument to study the flowability of resin, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to study the thermal properties of resin, and acid number to quantitate the amount of acidic group in the resin. A comparison of properties between the experimental samples, patent’s claims, and commercial resins had …

Gerber Project For Lockheed Martin, Andrew Callahan, Sean Lawyer

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Lockheed Martin, the world’s premier aerial combat vehicle manufacturer was pressed to find an eco-friendly way to package their impregnated epoxy. In the current system, the epoxy would be cut on the Gerber table to a pre-determined length and then sandwiched inside of two corrugated fiberboard sheets for storage inside of a freezer. The current process was not only labor intensive, but the corrugated fiberboard had to be disregarded after one use. In conjunction with the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Packaging program and Melmat Incorporated, we were able to find a corrugated plastic substrate to replace the currently non-reusable …

Electrostatic Quadrupole Plasma Mass Spectrometer Measurements During Thin Film Depositions Using Simultaneous Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation And Magnetron Sputtering, Chad N. Hunter, Michael H. Check, Christopher Muratore, Andrey A. Voevodin

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

A hybrid plasma deposition process, combining matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) of carbon nanopearls (CNPs) with magnetron sputtering of gold was investigated for growth of composite films, where 100 nm sized CNPs were encapsulated into a gold matrix. Composition and morphology of such composite films was characterized with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. Carbondeposits on a gold magnetron sputter target and carbon impurities in the gold matrices of depositedfilms were observed while codepositing from gold and frozen toluene-CNP MAPLE targets in pure argon. Electrostatic quadrupole plasma analysis was used to determine that …

Characteristics Of Proton Conducting Pva-Chitosan Polymer Blend Electrolytes., Mohd Fakhrul Zamani Abdul Kadir

Student Works (2010-2019)

The main focus of this present work is to build a good conducting solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) based on chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) blend. Solution cast technique has been employed to produce sample films in this work. From the scanning electron micrographs (SEM) the surface morphology of the blend containing 40 wt.% chitosan and 60 wt.% PVA (C4P6) is homogenous and miscible in one and another. The C4P6 film is the most amorphous and is the best candidate for the polymer host in the electrolyte systems studied in the present work. Ammonium Nitrate (NH4NO3) is the doping salt that provides …

Thermo-Electrical And Mechanical Studies On Polymer-Organically Modified Montmorillonite Composite., Norhana Abdul Halim

Student Works (2010-2019)

The field of polymer-nanoclay composite has attracted a lot of attention in materials studies due to the dramatic improvement on polymers characteristics. For example mechanical and thermal properties, chemical resistance as well as the reduced gas permeability. However, structural changes and the mechanisms that may contribute to these improvements are not fully understood. In this work, the study on polymer nanoclay composite concentrates on the effects of OMON inclusion within different polymer matrix systems. The matrixes are a series of natural rubbers (Standard Malaysia Rubber – Latex grade (SMRL); Deproteinized Natural Rubber (DPNR) and Epoxidized Natural Rubber (ENR-50)), plasticized Polyvinyl …

Electrical And Structural Studies Of Polyacrylonitrile (Pan) Complexed With Inorganic Salts., Khairul Bahiyah Md Isa

Student Works (2010-2019)

In the present study, polymer electrolyte films composed of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a host polymer, ethylene carbonate (EC) as the plasticizer and lithium triflate (LiCF3SO3) and sodium triflate (NaCF3SO3) as dopant salts were prepared by the solution cast technique. Five systems of polymer electrolytes films have been prepared; these systems are the plasticized-PAN system i.e. PAN-EC system, two salted-PAN systems i.e. PAN-LiCF3SO3 and PAN-NaCF3SO3, and two plasticized-salted PAN systems i.e. PAN-EC-LiCF3SO3 and PAN-EC-NaCF3SO3. The pure PAN film was prepared as a reference. The ionic conductivity for each system is characterized using impedance spectroscopy. The room temperature conductivity of the pure …