CAREER: Rheology and Microstructure of Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites

abstractcts - 0134275 j。这项研究的目的是研究聚合物-粘土纳米复合材料的流变学和微观结构。聚合物-粘土纳米复合材料是一类新型材料，其特性结合了悬浮流变学和非牛顿流体力学的元素。该研究计划分为三个部分：(1)了解表征良好的纳米复合流体的基本流变性能与多种材料特性的关系；(2)利用微型挤压装置评估粘土薄片作为定向晶体生长成核位点的能力；(3)根据实验结果建立本构理论。该教育计划包括利用各种媒体和采用一些较新的教学技术来改进现有课程，引入新课程，并让本科生参与研究。

ABSTRACTCTS-0134275J. Oberhauser, University of VirginiaThe objective the proposed research is to study the rheology and microstructure of polymer-clay nanocomposites, a novel class of material whose properties combine elements of suspension rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics. The research plan has three parts: (1) to understand the basic rheology of a well-characterized nanocomposite fluid as a function of a number of material properties, (2) to assess the ability of the clay platelets to function as nucleating sites for oriented crystal growth by using a mini-extrusion device, and (3) to develop constitutive theory based on the experimental results. The education plan consists of improving existing courses by including various media and implementing some newer pedagogical techniques, to introduce new courses, and to include undergraduates in research.