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 2010
Liquid Crystalline Polymers: Theories, Experiments and Nematodynamic Simulations of Shearing Flows, Arkadii Leonov
On Rheology, Cure Kinetics and Chemorheology of Gum Rubbers, Arkadii Leonov
High and Balanced Hole and Electron Mobilities from Ambipolar Thin-Film Transistors Based on Nitrogen-Containing Oligoacences, Yi-Yang Liu, Cheng-Li Song, Wei-Jing Zeng, Kai-Ge Zhou, Za-Fa Shi, Chong-Bo Ma, Feng Yang, Hao-Li Zhang, and Xiong Gong
Swimming Photochromic Azobenzene Single Crystals in Triacrylate Solution, Kenneth Milam, Garrett O'Malley, Namil Kim, Dmitry Golovaty, and Thein Kyu
Effects of Genistein Modification on Miscibility and Hydrogen Bonding Interactions in Poly(amide)/Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) Blends and Morphology Development during Coagulation, Chandrasekaran Neelakandan and Thein Kyu
Comparative study on development of structural hierarchy in constrained annealed simultaneous and sequential biaxially stretched polylactic acid films, X. Ou and Mukerrem Cakmak
Improvement in gas permeability of biaxially stretched PET films blended with high barrier polymers: The role of chemistry and processing conditions, İlhan Özen, Gülay Bozoklu, Cahit Dalgıçdir, Orçun Yücel, Emre Ünsal, Mukerrem Cakmak, and Yusuf Ziya Menceloğlu
Layer of clay platelets in a peptide matrix: Binding, encapsulation, and morphology, Ras B. Pandey, Hendrik Heinz, Barry L. Farmer, Lawrence F. Drummy, Sharon E. Jones, Richard A. Vaia, and Rajesh R. Naik
Biofunctionalization and immobilization of a membrane via peptide binding (CR3-1, S2) by a Monte Carlo simulation, R. B. Pandey, Hendrik Heinz, Jie Feng, and Barry L. Farmer
A One-Step Melt Extrusion Process for Preparing Polyolefin/Clay Nanocomposites Using Natural Montmorillonite, Benjamin F. Ports and Robert Weiss
Stress-Optical behavior of Poly (m-xylylenediamine adipamide)(Nylon MXD6): Influence of molecular weight, Sylvian Seif and Mukerrem Cakmak
Fast Dynamics in a Model Polymeric Glass Former: Implications for Protein Preservation in Sugar Glasses, David Simmons
Molecular Motions and the Beta Relaxation, David Simmons
Molecular Motions of the Beta Relaxation and Glassy Biomolecular Preservation, David Simmons
Pressure Effects on Polymer Coil Globule Transitions near an LCST, David Simmons
Protein Activity Modulation and Preservation in Glass-Forming Liquids: Molecular Origins by Simulation Study, David Simmons
Understanding Protein Preservation in Sugar Glasses via Simulation Study of Fast Dynamics, David Simmons
A New Class of Acrylated Alkyds, Mark Soucek
Cyclohexyl Thiols for Thiol-ene Photopolymerization, Mark Soucek
Mechanical and Film Properties of Thermally Curable Polysiloxanes, Mark Soucek
Preparation of a Thiol Siloxane Colliod for UV-Curable Organic/Inorganic Films Based on Norbornene Linseed Oi, Mark Soucek
Synthesis and Characterization of Cycloaliphatic Siloxanes Copolymers, Mark Soucek
Synthesis of Tung Oil Based Reactive Diluents, Mark Soucek
Electrospinning and Characterization of Highly Sulfonated Polystyrene Fibers, Chitrabala Subramanian, Robert Weiss, and Montgomery T. Shaw
Anomalous Behavior of Polystyrene Blends Using Thermally Induced Surface Wrinkling, Bryan Vogt
Assessing and improving bonding in wet conditions, Bryan Vogt
Elastic constants and dimensions of imprinted polymeric nanolines determined from Brillouin light scattering, Bryan Vogt
Impact of molecular mass on the elastic modulus of thin polystyrene films, Bryan Vogt
Impact of nanopore morphology on cell viability on mesoporous polymer and carbon surfaces, Bryan Vogt
Influence of Molecular Mass on the Modulus of Thin Polystyrene Films, Bryan Vogt
Temporary bond debond technology for high-performance transistors on flexible substrates, Bryan Vogt
Thickness dependence of the elastic modulus of tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminium, Bryan Vogt
Understanding anomalous CO2 swelling of polymer films using reactive templating, Bryan Vogt
What can wrinkling tell us about the glass transition of ultrathin polymer films?, Bryan Vogt
Synthesis of polydimethylsiloxane-containing block copolymers via reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, Maurice L. Wadley and Kevin Cavicchi
Quantification of the binding affinity of a specific hydroxyapatite binding peptide, Michael C. Weiger, Jung Jin Park, Marc D. Roy, Christopher M. Stafford, Alamgir Karim, and Matthew L. Becker
Investigation of nanostructures and properties of sulfonated poly (arylenethioethersulfone) copolymer as proton conducting materials by small angle neutron scattering, Mitra Yoonessi, Thuy D. Dang, Hendrik Heinz, Robert Wheeler, and Zongwu Bai
Nanoscale tensile, shear, and failure properties of layered silicates as a function of cation density and stress, Gregory D. Zartman, Hua Liu, Brahim Akdim, Ruth Pachter, and Hendrik Heinz
Yield Behavior of Moderately Filled Epoxy/Ni Suspensions, Jianguo Zhou and Erol Sancaktar
UV-Absorption and Silica/Titania Colloids Using a Core--Shell Approach, Liang Zhou, Hendrik Heinz, Mark D. Soucek, Elvin A. Aleman, and David A. Modarelli
Submissions from 2009
Control of Cylinder-Phase Orientation in SIS Block Copolymer by Homopolymer Blending, Dae Up Ahn and Erol Sancaktar
Direct Fabrication of High Density Polymer Nano-dots by Excimer Laser Irradiation of Block Copolymer Masks, Dae Up Ahn and Erol Sancaktar
Direct Fabrication of High Density Polymer or Silicon Nano-Dots by Excimer Laser Irradiation on Block Copolymer Masks, Dae Up Ahn and Erol Sancaktar
Fabrication of Block Copolymer Nanotemplates by One-Step Matrix-Assisted Photothermal Excimer Laser Ablation, Dae Up Ahn and Erol Sancaktar
Temperature-Dependent Phase Behaviors in Cylinder-Forming Block Copolymers, Dae Up Ahn and Erol Sancaktar
Synthesis and characterization of novel comb-type amphiphilic graft copolymers containing polypropylene and polyethylene glycol, Murat Balci, Abdulkadir Alli, Baki Hazer, Olgun Guven, Kevin Cavicchi, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Bio-Artificial Pancreas and a Procedure for Preparation of Same, Mukerrem Cakmak, Gabor Erdodi, Jungmee Kang, Joseph P. Kennedy, and Baris Yalcin
Reversible Addition Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) Polymerization with a Polymeric RAFT Agent Containing Multiple Trithiocarbonate Groups, Kevin Cavicchi and Yuqing Liu
Molecular models and simulations of layered materials, Randall T. Cygan, Jeffery A. Greathouse, Hendrik Heinz, and Andrey G. Kalinichev
Stages of structural ordering leading to stress induced crystallization of peek films: A mechano-optical study on deformation, relaxation and retraction, F. Daver, A. Blake, and Mukerrem Cakmak
A new bioartificial pancreas utilizing amphiphilic membranes for the immunoisolation of porcine islets: a pilot study in the canine, S. F. Grundfest-Broniatowski, G. Tellioglu, K. S. Rosenthal, J. Kang, G. Erdodi, B. Yalcin, Mukerrem Cakmak, J. Drazba, A. Bennett, L. Lu, and J. P. Kennedy
Accurate Simulation of Layered Silicates and Their Interfaces, Hendrik Heinz
Atomistic Simulation of Cleavage Energy of C3S and Organic-silicate Interactions, Hendrik Heinz
Calculation of local and average pressure tensors in molecular simulations, Hendrik Heinz
Computational screening of biomolecular adsorption and self-assembly on nanoscale surfaces, Hendrik Heinz
Directed Self-assembly of Block Copolymers on Topological Substrates: A Monte Carlo Simulation, Hendrik Heinz
Quantifying Adsorption of Amino Acids and Surfactants on Au {111} Surfaces in Aqueous Solution, Hendrik Heinz
Nature of Molecular Interactions of Peptides with Gold, Palladium, and Pd- Au Bimetal Surfaces in Aqueous Solution, Hendrik Heinz, Barry L. Farmer, Ras B. Pandey, Joseph M. Slocik, Soumya S. Patnaik, Ruth Pachter, and Rajesh R. Naik
Toward understanding amino acid adsorption at metallic interfaces: a density functional theory study, Gongyi Hong, Hendrik Heinz, Rajesh R. Naik, Barry L. Farmer, and Ruth Pachter
Birefringence in Gas-Assisted Injection Moldings: Contribution of Thermal Birefringence, Avraam Isayev
Birefringence in gas-assisted tubular injection moldings: Simulation and experiment, Avraam Isayev
Co-injection Molding of Polyme, Avraam Isayev
Cure Kinetics Study of Unfilled and Carbon Black Filled Synthetic Isoprene Rubber, Avraam Isayev
Enhanced Copolymerization of PEN/PET Blends during Ultrasonically-Aided Extrusion, Avraam Isayev
Injection molding: technology and fundamentals, Avraam Isayev
Novel Process for Compounding of Nanoclay, Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers in Polymer Melts, Avraam Isayev
PA6/clay nanocomposites by continuous sonication process, Avraam Isayev
Ultrasonically-Aided Extrusion of PEN/LCP Blends, Avraam Isayev
ULTRASONIC TREATMENT OF PET/LCP BLENDS DURING EXTRUSION, Avraam Isayev
Ultrasound Assisted Continuous Process for Dispersion of Nanofibers and Nanotubes in Polymers, Avraam Isayev
Ultrasound Assisted Melt Processing of LCP/CNF Nanocomposites, Avraam Isayev
Ultrasound assisted twin screw extrusion of polymer--nanocomposites containing carbon nanotubes, Avraam Isayev
Vergleichende Studie zur Ultraschallbehandlung von gefulltem Ethylen-Propylen-Dien-Monomer (EPDM)-Kautschuk, Avraam Isayev
Volumetric and Anisotropic Shrinkage in Injection Moldings of Thermoplastics, Avraam Isayev
Carbonaceous fillers for shape memory actuation of polyurethane composites by resistive heating, Sadhan Jana
Rheology as a tool for elucidation of properties of nanocomposites, Sadhan Jana
Synthesis, characterization, and antibacterial activity of metal nanoparticles embedded into amphiphilic comb-type graft copolymers, Ozlem A. Kalayci, Fusun B. Comert, Baki Hazer, Turgay Atalay, Kevin Cavicchi, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Damage and Failure of Cross-Linked Rubbers in Quasi-Static Simple Extension: Modeling and Experiments, Arkadii Leonov
Evaluating Tackiness of Polymer Containing Lubricants by Open Siphon method: Experiments, Theory and Observations, Arkadii Leonov
Nematodynamic Theory of Liquid Crystalline Polymers, Arkadii Leonov
Simulations of Instability in Fiber Spinning of Polymers, Arkadii Leonov
Flexible Nanofiber-Reinforced Aerogel (Xerogel) Synthesis, Manufacture, and Characterization, Lichun Li, Baris Yalcin, Baochau N. Nguyen, Mary Ann B. Meador, and Mukerrem Cakmak
Synthesis of poly (trioctylammonium p-styrenesulfonate) homopolymers and block copolymers by RAFT polymerization, Yuqing Liu, Kevin L. Pollock, and Kevin Cavicchi
Hydrogen Bonding Interaction and Miscibility Studies of Amorphous Poly(amide)/Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) Blends containing Mangiferin, Chandrasekaran Neelakandan and Thein Kyu
Miscibility Characterization in Relation to Phase Morphology of Poly(ether sulfone)/Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) Blends containing a Phytochemical, Chandrasekaran Neelakandan and Thein Kyu
Adsorption of peptides (A3, Flg, Pd2, Pd4) on gold and palladium surfaces by a coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulation, R. B. Pandey, Hendrik Heinz, Jie Feng, Barry L. Farmer, Joseph M. Slocik, Lawrence F. Drummy, and Rajesh R. Naik
Photopolymerization Induced Crystallization in Relation to Solid-Liquid Phase Diagram of Poly(ethylene oxide)/Diacrylate Monomer Blends, Soo Jeoung Park and Thein Kyu
Preparation, Characterization, and Physical Properties of Multiwall Carbon Nanotube/Elastomer Composites, Leon D. Perez, Manuel A. Zuluaga, Thein Kyu, James E. Mark, and Betty L. Lopez