Engineering Research Equipment: Dynamic Mechanical Analyzers

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The PI proposes purchasing a Rheometrics Dynamic Analyzer (RDA) for the measurement of fluids mechanical properties such as steady and oscillatory viscosity under carefully controlled conditions, and a Rheometries Solids Analyzer (RSA) for the measurement of solid mechanical properties such as static and oscillatory elastic and dilatational moduli. The instrument will be used in several research programs. With the RSA, the coupling between the mechanical and transport properties of hollow fiber membranes will be investigated, the mechanical strengths of hydrogels will be characterized as a function of initiator and crosslinking, and the effect of sorbed gas as a polymer plasticizer will be investigated. The RDA will be used for studying the effect of ionic aggregation on the dynamic viscosity of liquid crystalline polymers and in measuring viscosities in resin cure. The purchase of the rheometers will have a significant impact on several research groups. The research on hydrogels for controlled drug delivery is a particularly novel and promising idea. The RSA will instrument will certainly be necessary for characterizing the strength of the hydrogels, and this information will be necessary for further technological development.