Directional freeze-casting is a porous materials fabrication technique that is used to create materials with complex, three-dimensional pore structures. Particle suspensions are solidified under a thermal gradient, promoting anisotropic growth of dendrites and incorporation of particles within interdendritic space. A fully-solidified directional freeze-cast structure is composed of dendrites that are...
This thesis demonstrates the use of dual-beam focused ion beam - scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) for making complete three-dimensional reconstructions of SOFC electrodes in order to better understand the links between processing and performance with respect to microstructure. Sufficient compositional contrast, with nano-scale resolution, between Ni and LSM with respect...
The macroscale mechanical and physical properties of materials are inherently linked to the underlying microstructure. Traditional continuum mechanics theories have focused on approximating the heterogeneous microstructure as a continuum, which is conducive to a partial differential equation mathematical description. Although this makes large scale simulation of material much more efficient...
Counteranion effects on the rate and stereochemistry of propylene polymerization mediated by ion-pair complexes derived from dimethylzirconocene precatalysts activated with strongly Lewis-acidic perfluoroarylmetalloid cocatalyst/activators are shown to arise from the strength of the cation-anion interaction. This is quantified using CS-symmetric Me2C(Cp)(Flu)ZrMe2 (Cp = C5H4, η5 cyclopentadienyl; Flu = C13H8, η5...