Polymer Engineering Faculty Research
The Department of Polymer Engineering is part of the world-renowned College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at UA, which has about 40 full-time faculty and 350 graduate students and postdoctoral research associates studying the chemistry, physics and engineering of polymeric materials and systems.
The Center for Polymer Engineering was created in 1983 and the Department of Polymer Engineering in 1984. In 1988 the Center was renamed the Institute of Polymer Engineering. The Department is currently comprised of 15 full-time faculty and approximately 140 graduate students. DPE is housed in three buildings -- the 32,000 sq. ft. Polymer Engineering Academic Center (PEAC); the 70,000 sq. ft. Sidney L. Olson Research Center (OLRC); and the 43,000 sq. ft. National Polymer Innovation Center (NPIC).
The Department of Polymer Engineering is strictly a graduate department, offering both the M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Polymer Engineering. The Department awards about 50 Ph.D. and M.S degrees each year. We are pleased that our graduates have gone on to successful careers in industry, government service, and academia throughout the world. Additionally, there are undergraduate students in the College of Engineering and the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences who often work on either independent projects with DPE faculty or who take some of our courses that are suitable as electives for majors in engineering and the physical sciences.
Our faculty members are recognized worldwide for their contributions to polymer research and education, as well as service to the polymer field. The faculty have been recognized with numerous awards and distinctions, ranging from the International Award of the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Melvin Mooney Distinguished Technology Award of the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society, to Fellowships in major polymer-related societies, such as the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science , American Chemical Society, and the Society of Plastics Engineers. In addition, our younger faculty have been recognized with Faculty Early Career Awards from the National Science Foundation. DPE faculty are actively engaged in various scientific organizations, edit several scientific journals, and have written a number of textbooks and monographs.
Submissions from 2012
Biocomposites: Mechanical Properties and Biomedical Applications, Sadhan Jana
Department of Chemical Engineering, Sadhan Jana
Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Sadhan Jana
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sadhan Jana
Design of nanoreinforcements by engineering at nanoscale, Sadhan Jana
Electrically conductive compounds of polycarbonate, liquid crystalline polymer, and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, Sadhan Jana
Exploiting chaos: Should polymerization reactors be chaotic?, Sadhan Jana
Exploiting POSS Sorbitol Interactions: Issues of Reinforcement of Isotactic Polypropylene Spun Fibers, Sadhan Jana
GE Corporate Research & Development, Sadhan Jana
GE Global Research Center, Sadhan Jana
GE Plastics, Sadhan Jana
Highly-filled graphite-polymer composites: Synthesis, processing, and characterization, Sadhan Jana
Levich Institute of Physico-chemical Hydrodynamics, Sadhan Jana
Lubrizol, Sadhan Jana
Nanocomposites of rubbery polymers: An engineer’s views, Sadhan Jana
NASA Glenn Research Center, Sadhan Jana
New Antifouling Silica Hydrogel, Sadhan Jana
Producing nano and micro fibers by using jets of gas, Sadhan Jana
Reliance Industries Limited, Sadhan Jana
Shape memory polymer nanocomposites research and applications, Sadhan Jana
Surface modification and reinforcement of silica aerogels using polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes, Sadhan Jana
Synthesis and Characterization of Shape-Memory Polyurethane Polybenzoxazine Compounds, Sadhan Jana
Diblock copolymer lamellae on sinusoidal and fractal surfaces, Alamgir Karim, Amit Ranjan, Manish Kulkarni, and Ashutosh Sharma
Phase Equilibira and Photopolymerization Induce Phase Transitions of Mesogenic Diacrylate Monomer and Low Molecular Mass Liquid Crystal Mixtures, Namil Kim and Thein Kyu
Directed Assembly of Block Copolymer Films: Effects of Rough Substrates and Thermal Fields, Manish M. Kulkarni, Alamgir Karim, and Kevin G. Yager
Impact of Homopolymer Pore Expander on the Morphology of Mesoporous Carbon Films Using Organic--Organic Self-Assembly, Alpha Labiano, Mingzhi Dai, Wen-Shiue Young, Gilia E. Stein, Kevin Cavicchi, Thomas H. Epps, and Bryan D. Vogt
Aerodynamic Models for Hurricanes, Arkadii Leonov
Damage of Cross-Linked Rubbers as the Scission of Polymer Chains: Modeling and Tensile Experiments,, Arkadii Leonov
Solution-Processed Ultrasensitive Polymer Photodetectors with High External Quantum Efficiency and Detectivity, Xilan Liu, Hangxing Wang, Tingbin Yang, Wei Zhang, and Xiong Gong
Solution-processed near-infrared polymer photodetectors with an inverted device structure, Xilan Liu, Hangxing Wang, Tingbin Yang, Wei Zhang, I-Fan Hsieh, Stephen Z. D. Cheng, and Xiong Gong
Mechanically Strong, Flexible Polyimide Aerogels Cross-Linked with Aromatic Triamine, Mary Ann B. Meador, Ericka J. Malow, Rebecca Silva, Sarah Wright, Derek Quade, Stephanie L. Vivod, Haiquan Guo, Jiao Guo, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Structural Parameters for Nanocylinder Microdomains of Polystyrene-polybutadiene-Polystyrene Triblock Copolymer and its Blends with Polystyrene Homopolymer, Dong Sik Park and Erol Sancaktar
Chemistry of aqueous silica nanoparticle surfaces and the mechanism of selective peptide adsorption, Siddharth V. Patwardhan, Fateme S. Emami, Rajiv J. Berry, Sharon E. Jones, Rajesh R. Naik, Olivier Deschaume, Hendrik Heinz, and Carole C. Perry
Effect of Interfacial Weight Loss by Silver Migration on the Pullout Strength of Silver Wire Embedded in an Adhesive Matrix, Erol Sancaktar and Amit A. Khanolkar
From finite-amplitude equilibrium structures to dewetting in thin polymer films on chemically patterned substrates, Amit Sehgal, Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, Kajari Kargupta, Ashutosh Sharma, and Alamgir Karim
High Temperature Shape Memory Polymer, Ying Shi, Mitra Yoonessi, and Robert Weiss
Generalized localization model of relaxation in glass-forming liquids, David Simmons
Localization model for relaxation in glass-forming materials, David Simmons
Dynamic Thermal Field Induced Gradient Soft-Shear for Highly Oriented Block Copolymer Thin Films, Gurpreet Singh, Kevin G. Yager, Brian Berry, Ho-Cheol Kim, and Alamgir Karim
Tuning Molecular Relaxation for Vertical Orientation in Cylindrical Block Copolymer Films via Sharp Dynamic Zone Annealing, Gurpreet Singh, Kevin G. Yager, Detlef-M. Smilgies, Manish M. Kulkarni, David G. Bucknall, and Alamgir Karim
Alkoxysilane Oligomer Modified Epoxide Primers, Mark Soucek
A Photo-Curing Study of Pigmented UV-Curable Alkyd, Mark Soucek
Dual-Curable Unsaturated Polyester Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Films, Mark Soucek
Investigation of Grafting Sites of Acrylic Mixed Monomers onto Unsaturated Fatty Acids: Part 2, Mark Soucek
Investigation of Grafting Sites of Acrylic Monomers onto Alkyd Resins via gHMQC Two-Dimensional NMR: Part 1, Mark Soucek
Polyester/poly(meth)acrylate block copolymers by combined Polycondensation/ARTP: Characterization and Properties, Mark Soucek
Review of Autoxidation and Driers, Mark Soucek
Route to Co-Acrylic Modified Alkyd Resins via a Controlled Polymerization Technique, Mark Soucek
Synthesis and Properties of Acrylate Functionalized Alkyds via a Diles-alder Reaction, Mark Soucek
Synthesis of Amphiphilic Triblock copolymers for the formation of Magnesium flouride (MgF2) Nanoparticles, Mark Soucek
Synthesis of UV-Curable Tung Oil and UV-curable Tung Oil Based Alkyds, Mark Soucek
Tung Oil Reactive Diluents for Alkyd Systems: Film Properties, Mark Soucek
Chemical crosslinking of highly sulfonated polystyrene electrospun fibers, Chitrabala Subramanian, Marcus Giotto, Robert Weiss, and Montgomery T. Shaw
Real-time measurement system for tracking birefringence, weight, thickness, and surface temperature during drying of solution cast coatings and films, E. Unsal, J. Drum, O. Yucel, I. I. Nugay, B. Yalcin, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Finite element modeling of temporary bonding systems for flexible microelectronics fabrication, Bryan Vogt
Flocculated carbon nanotube composites for solvent resistant soft template microfeatures, Bryan Vogt
Impact of chain architecture (branching) on the thermal and mechanical behavior of polystyrene thin films, Bryan Vogt
Mechanisms of criticality in environmental adhesion loss, Bryan Vogt
Mesoporous carbon amperometric glucose sensors using inexpensive, commercial methacrylate-based binders, Bryan Vogt
Morphology control in mesoporous carbon films using solvent vapor annealing, Bryan Vogt
Removal of Lower Alcohols from Aqueous Solution using Hydrophobic Adsorption with Ordered Mesoporous Carbons , Bryan Vogt
Role of salt on adhesion of an epoxy/aluminum (oxide) interface in aqueous environments, Bryan Vogt
Slow release kinetics of mitoxantrone from ordered mesoporous carbon films, Bryan Vogt
Solvent Dependence of the Morphology of Spin-Coated Thin Films of Polydimethylsiloxane-Rich Polystyrene-block-Polydimethylsiloxane Copolymers, Maurice L. Wadley, I-Fan Hsieh, Kevin Cavicchi, and Stephen Z. D. Cheng
A Facile Method for Preparing Sticky Hydrophobic Polymer Surfaces, Xueyuan Wang and Robert Weiss
Uniaxially Cracked ITO on PET Substrate and its Application in Flexible Displays, John L. West, Mukerrem Cakmak, Tsang-Min Huang, and Da-Wei Lee
Inverted structure polymer solar cells with solution processed zinc oxide thin film as an electron collection Layer, TingBin Yang, DongHuan Qin, LinFeng Lan, WenBo Huang, Xiong Gong, JunBiao Peng, and Yong Cao
Zinc Oxide Nanowire As an Electron-Extraction Layer for Broadband Polymer Photodetectors with an Inverted Device Structure, Tingbin Yang, Ke Sun, Xilan Liu, Wei Wei, Tianzhi Yu, Xiong Gong, Deli Wang, and Yong Cao
Polymer Solar Cells with a Low-Temperature-Annealed SolâGel-Derived MoOx Film as a Hole Extraction Layer, Tingbin Yang, Ming Wang, Yan Cao, Fei Huang, Lin Huang, Junbiao Peng, Xiong Gong, Stephen Z. D. Cheng, and Yong Cao
Inverted polymer solar cells with 8.4% efficiency by conjugated polyelectrolyte, Tingbin Yang, Ming Wang, Chunhui Duan, Xiaowen Hu, Lin Huang, Junbiao Peng, Fei Huang, and Xiong Gong
Polymer solar cells with an inverted device configuration using polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-[60] fullerene dyad as a novel electron acceptor, Wen-Bin Zhang, YingFeng Tu, Hao-Jan Sun, Kan Yue, Xiong Gong, and Stephen Z. D. Cheng
Strain-Promoted Crosslinking of PEG-based Hydrogels via Copper-Free Cycloaddition, Jukan Zheng, Laura A. Smith Callahan, Jinkun Hao, Kai Guo, Chrys Wesdemiotis, Robert Weiss, and Matthew L. Becker
Chemorheology of Epoxy/Nickel Conductive Adhesives During Processing and Cure, Jianguo Zhou and Erol Sancaktar
Submissions from 2011
The mechanical behavior of poly(lactic acid) unreinforced and nanocomposite films subjected to monotonic and fatigue loading conditions, Rodney D. Averett, Mary L. Realff, Karl Jacob, Mukerrem Cakmak, and Baris Yalcin
Influence of C60 Nanoparticles on the Stability and Morphology of Miscible Polymer Blend Films, Diya Bandyopadhyay, Jack F. Douglas, and Alamgir Karim
Solvent Effect Leading to High Performance of Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells by Novel Polysilafluorene Derivatives, Wanzhu Cai, Ming Wang, Jie Zhang, Ergang Wang, Tingbing Yang, Chao He, Ji Sun Moon, Hongbin Wu, Xiong Gong, and Yong Cao
Synthesis and Polymerization of Substituted Ammonium Sulfonate Monomers for Advanced Materials Applications, Kevin Cavicchi
Crystallographic Recognition Controls Peptide Binding for Bio-Based Nanomaterials, Ryan Coppage, Joseph M. Slocik, Beverly D. Briggs, Anatoly I. Frenkel, Hendrik Heinz, Rajesh R. Naik, and Marc R. Knecht
Organic photoresponse materials and devices, Huanli Dong, Hongfei Zhu, Qing Meng, Xiong Gong, and Wenping Hu
Shape-Memory Behavior of Zinc Oleate-Filled Elastomeric Ionomers, Jing Dong and Robert Weiss
The effects of partial bonding in load carrying capacity of single lap joints, J.D. Engerer and Erol Sancaktar
Control over Self-Assembly of Diblock Copolymers on Hexagonal and Square Templates for High Area Density Circuit Boards, Jie Feng, Kevin Cavicchi, and Hendrik Heinz
Adsorption mechanism of single amino acid and surfactant molecules to Au 111 surfaces in aqueous solution: design rules for metal-binding molecules, Jie Feng, Ras B. Pandey, Rajiv J. Berry, Barry L. Farmer, Rajesh R. Naik, and Hendrik Heinz
Synthesis of omega-sulfonated polystyrene via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer polymerization and postpolymerization modification, Lei Feng, Kevin Cavicchi, Bryan C. Katzenmeyer, and Chrys Wesdemiotis
Bending of Layered Silicates on the Nanometer Scale: Mechanism, Stored Energy, and Curvature Limits, Yao-Tsung Fu, Gregory D. Zartman, Mitra Yoonessi, Lawrence F. Drummy, and Hendrik Heinz
Polyimide Aerogels Cross-Linked through Amine Functionalized Polyoligomeric Silsesquioxane, Haiquan Guo, Mary Ann B. Meador, Linda McCorkle, Derek J. Quade, Jiao Guo, Bart Hamilton, Mukerrem Cakmak, and Guilherme Sprowl
Viscoelastic and Mechanical Behavior of Hydrophobically Modified Hydrogels, Jinkun Hao and Robert Weiss
Cleavage Energy of Tricalcium Silicate and Interactions with Amine Additives, Hendrik Heinz
Molecular Understanding of Directional Surface and Interface Tensions of Gypsum and Plaster, Hendrik Heinz
Induced Smectic Phases in Phase Diagrams of Binary Nematic Liquid Crystal Mixtures, Tsang-Min Huang, Kathleen McCreary, Shila Garg, and Thein Kyu
Comparison of birefringence and mechanical properties of injection molded metallocene and Ziegler-Natta based isotactic polypropylene, Avraam Isayev
Comparison of Carbon Nanotubes and Carbon Nanofibers Based Nanocomposites Prepared with Aid of High Power Ultrasound, Avraam Isayev
Decrosslinking of Crosslinked Polyolefins by Ultrasonic Extrusion and Their Superior Performance Properties, Avraam Isayev