POLYMER and COMPOSITES ENGINEERING

Faculty: Caneba, King, Morrison, Mullins

Several faculty members in chemical engineering are actively engaged in polymer research.  Current research programs include controlled free-radical polymerization for foams, adhesives, and coatings, and developing thermally and electrically conductive thermoplastics.  Work on carbon-filled plastic systems takes place in the Carbon Technology Center, led by King, where work currently focuses on development and modeling of highly conductive carbon-filled thermoplastic resins for fuel-cell bipolar-plate applications.  Work on multifunctional polymer synthesis, led by Caneba, takes place in the Center for Environmentally Benign Functional Materials, which is part of the MTU Sustainable Futures Institute.

The department offers numerous courses in polymer science and a Minor in Polymer Science and Engineering.  Morrison is a leader in polymer rheology education through her textbook Understanding Rheology (Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN-10: 0195141660) and through her courses, which include two MTU courses in rheology and a two-day short course, Beginning Rheology, offered with Prof. Jeff Giacomin of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Selected Equipment

• Brabender twin-screw mixer
• Twin-screw and single-screw extruders with ports for devolatilization, foaming, and supercritical fluid extraction
• Injection molder
• Atomic force microscope
• Through-plane/In-plane thermal conductivity apparatus
• Electrical resistivity apparatus
• Film-blowing line
• Autoclave Engineers 500-ml 14,000 psig reactor system
• Eclipse robotic fluid dispensing system
• High throughput experimentation heated/cooled blocks (25, 96, 156 positions)
• 1-liter, 5-liter 45 psig glass reactor systems
• Diode-array time-resolved light scattering system
• 300-ml Parr reactor system
• 600-ml supercritical fluid batch foaming/extraction system
• TGA/DSC
• Geottfert 1000 capillary rheometer
• Bohlin C-VOR rheometer (Malvern Instruments)
• Instron 3211 capillary rheometer

Selected Theses/Dissertations

• Production of Nanocomposite Polymer Foams, Ph D dissertation, Brian Ott, in progress, 2005
• Conductive Resins for Bipolar Plates for Fuel Cells, PhD dissertation, Rebecca A. Hauser, in progress, 2007
• Electrically Conductive Resins, PhD dissertation, Rodwick L. Barton, in progress, 2005
• Development and Modeling of Thermally Conductive Resins for Fuel Cell Bipolar Plate Applications, PhD dissertation Michael G. Miller, 2006
• Development of a Predictive Shielding Effectiveness Model for Carbon Fiber/Nylon Based Composites, MS thesis Nicolas B. Janda, 2004
• Free radical retrograde precipitation polymerization : a fundamental study, PhD dissertation Yadunandan Dar, 1999