| NSF Org: |
DMR Division Of Materials Research |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 11, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 11, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1828251 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Guebre Tessema
gtessema@nsf.gov (703)292-4935 DMR Division Of Materials Research MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $147,455.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $147,455.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
200 SPARKS HALL MURRAY KY US 42071-3360 (270)809-3534 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
328 Wells Hall Murray KY US 42071-3318 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Major Research Instrumentation, EPSCoR Co-Funding |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
This award from the Major Research Instrumentation program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) provides Murray State University (MSU) with funds to purchase a rheometer to enhance undergraduate research and education in the Department of Chemistry and in the Institute of Engineering. The instrumentation will be used to study the rheological (stress-deformation) properties of polymers and plastics, polymer solutions, fluids, resins and other soft materials. Research teams in the Department of Chemistry conduct research to gain an understanding of the fundamental rheological properties of charge-containing plastics and materials critical to the advancement of applications in energy storage, electronic devices and 3D printing. The rheometer enhances significantly the instrumentation available for an expanding, multi-disciplinary program in polymer and materials science at MSU. The "hands-on" training that undergraduates will receive will lead to the improvement of up to five lecture and/or laboratory courses across chemistry and engineering. Since many of these students are from the rural counties of far-western Kentucky, northwestern Tennessee and southern Illinois, this cutting-edge experience will not only deepen their understanding of polymer and materials science but also increase the likelihood that these students gain meaningful employment in STEM-related careers in the region and/or better prepare them for pre-professional school. Finally, the rheometer will enhance MSU's ability to partner with regional R&D/manufacturing facilities thereby strengthening existing collaborations and enabling new ones.
The acquisition of a new rheometer complete with environmental testing chamber, UV accessory and dielectric capabilities is supported jointly by the Major Research Instrumentation Program and the EPSCoR program. The rheometer will enhance a rapidly growing undergraduate research and educational program in polymer and materials science at Murray State University. It will enable real-time and post-cure rheological analysis of polymers, polymer solutions, fluids, resins and other soft materials. Specific projects that would be enhanced include the elucidation of in situ and post-cure rheological properties of poly(ionic liquid) networks (PILs) prepared by thiol-ene/yne "click" photochemistry, the determination of dielectric properties of these PIL networks (including insights into chain dynamics and ion mobility), exploration of dynamic polymeric systems, and the analysis of resins for 3D printing. For all of these projects, the acquisition of rheological data, in particular those obtained using the UV light guide and dielectric accessories, will provide structure-activity information critical to advancing several on-going and future application interests, including gas/ion separation/absorption membrane technologies, microfluidics, electrospinning and other electroactive devices. The rheometer will also allow for the educational advancement of students in several courses between the Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Engineering: Polymer Chemistry, including the development of a brand new Polymer Chemistry Laboratory course, Instrumental Analysis, Mechanics of Materials and Mechanics of Materials Laboratory. Beyond teaching and research, addition of the rheometer will further facilitate an active collaboration with a regional chemical company in order to improve several current commercial product lines.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This grant provided funds for the acquisition of a TA Instruments DHR-2 rheometer, including environmental testing chamber, UV-curing accessory and dielectric capabilities. The instrument was purchased and installed in the fall of 2018. The instrumentation helps to support a rapidly growing undergraduate research and educational program in polymer and materials science at Murray State University. The rheometer has allowed for real-time and post-cure rheological analysis of polymers, polymer solutions, fluids, resins and other soft materials, resulting in over 250 experiments (research and instructional) completed to date. The rheometer has supported a number of undergraduate research projects, primarily across two groups in the Department of Chemistry. These projects include: (a) UV-curing kinetics and anhydrous conductivities of thiol-ene/yne poly(ionic liquid) network polymers, (b) conductivity of ionic-functionalized, cellulose-based materials, (c) analysis of the curing kinetics of various commercial and in-house developed 3D printing resins and (d) rheological analysis of ionic materials that exhibit re-healing properties. One publication has resulted from our research efforts so far with two other manuscripts under review, all three of which highlight our work with data from the rheometer. One undergraduate student has presented a poster on her work with re-healable materials at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. The rheometer has also been successfully integrated into two upper-level, laboratory-only courses in the Department of Chemistry: Organic Chemistry II Laboratory and our brand new Polymer and Materials Science Laboratory. In both courses, students were tasked with measuring real-time UV photopolymerization kinetics. A total of 20 students have gained experience in rheology as a result.
As Murray State University is a comprehensive, regional, primarily undergraduate university of approximately 10,000 students (60% female, 8% minority), many of whom are first-generation college students from the rural counties of southern Illinois, far-western Kentucky and northwest Tennessee, the acquisition of the rheometer and accessories has enhanced our ability to train students in polymer and materials science. As described above, we currently have two upper-level courses where students gain hands-on experience working with this instrumentation. While students in the Polymer and Materials Science Laboratory course are chemistry majors, those taking Organic Chemistry II Laboratory are a mixture of chemistry, biology and pre-veterinary students. Thus, there is a reasonably wide range of STEM students being exposed to this high-level instrumentation. The PIs continue to believe that the students who utilize this instrumentation, whether it be through research or coursework, will be better prepared than their counterparts at similarly sized institutions in the region. The rheometer, in addition to the equipment already present in the Department of Chemistry (the MSU Polymer and Materials Science Laboratory), has been used to attract new students to MSU, in particular to the Polymer and Materials Science degree track. This degree track has seen a 5-fold increase in enrollment over the past two years and the ability to obtain cutting-edge instrumentation and have students actually use it helps greatly in attracting and retaining new students. Beyond teaching and research, addition of the rheometer will hopefully facilitate an active collaboration with regional chemical companies, perhaps even creating pipelines for student employment upon graduation. We are also exploring incorporating rheological studies of 3D printing resins with one or more engineering courses offered at MSU.
Last Modified: 11/17/2020
Modified by: Kevin M Miller
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