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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

External Beam Alignment System For Quantitative Proton Induced Gamma-Ray Emission (Pige) Spectroscopy, Elias Ottens Jun 2022

External Beam Alignment System For Quantitative Proton Induced Gamma-Ray Emission (Pige) Spectroscopy, Elias Ottens

Honors Theses

The effects of pollution on the ecosystem are paramount in our society, permeating air, soil, and drinking water. One contaminant of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also referred to as "forever chemicals", which contains fluorine (F), a potentially harmful element to humans. To investigate pollution in the environment, it is necessary to make accurate measurements of the distribution and concentrations of these PFAS chemicals. To do this, soil samples are collected and analyzed using Particle Induced Gamma-ray Emission (PIGE) via the Union College Ion Beam Analysis Laboratory's (UCIBAL) particle accelerator. A 2.2 MeV proton beam comes into contact …


Electron-Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy Of Mgo And Aluminum-Doped Mgo, Elise Liebow Mar 2022

Electron-Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy Of Mgo And Aluminum-Doped Mgo, Elise Liebow

Honors Theses

Radiation is a form of energy that can damage materials at an atomic level. This has implications for the mobility of radioactive waste through containment materials. We are characterizing atomic defects in materials by using Electron-Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (EPALS). When an electron and positron come into contact with each other, they annihilate and release two antiparallel 511-keV gamma rays. In a pristine crystalline sample, positrons can easily annihilate with electrons, but in a sample with vacancies/defects in the crystal structure, positrons take longer to annihilate. Therefore, the more vacancies in a sample, the longer the average lifetime of a …


Ion-Beam Analysis Of Artificial Turf, Morgan Clark Jun 2017

Ion-Beam Analysis Of Artificial Turf, Morgan Clark

Honors Theses

There have been considerable concerns in recent years that artificial turf used in many playing fields around the world may be unsafe. While the presence of heavy metals and carcinogenic chemicals have been reported in a number of studies more data and research are needed to determine if there is a real link between artificial turf and adverse health effects. We performed PIXE and PIGE analysis of artificial turf blade and infill samples to search for heavy metals and other possibly toxic substances. The samples were bombarded with proton beams from the 1.1-MV Pelletron tandem accelerator in the Union College …


Atomic Force Microscopy Of Poly(Ethylane-Oxide) Crystalization, Xavier Capaldi Jun 2016

Atomic Force Microscopy Of Poly(Ethylane-Oxide) Crystalization, Xavier Capaldi

Honors Theses

Polymer crystallization is a complex process which is influenced by a variety of factors. Atomic force microscopy is used to explore the material properties of polymer crystals. Poly(ethylene-oxide) is used in a variety of molecular weights as the sample. In addition, a variety of sample preparation methods and microscopy modes were tested. A relatively new imaging technique was identified for the characterization of polymer crystals: amplitude modulation-frequency modulation viscoelastic mapping. This mode was used to measure material properties such as stiffness and dissipation.