Autoxidation is a primary route by which lubricants in working conditions undergo degradation. Degraded lubricants, if not replaced periodically, contribute to increased wear and product failure. Experimental studies of lubricant degradation have yielded useful results but have left important questions unanswered. While many computational studies of degradation have been carried...
Modeling and simulation at different scales were used to study mass transport, residence times and selective oxidation in nanostructured membranes. First, analytical equations of the possible mass transport mechanisms inside the pores were used to determine that diffusion dominates over convection under the conditions of interest for selective oxidation: 700...
Phase separation in segmented polymers provides distinct challenges in regard to their chemical reaction kinetics and characterization. Well studied, it has been shown that structure, phase separation and non-covalent interactions are key factors in the design of elastomeric polyurethanes. Specifically, this dissertation is focused on two areas: the synthesis of...
Contagion processes arise broadly in the social and biological sciences, manifested as, for example the spread of infectious and the diffusion of innovations. Depending on the network structure, the transmission dynamics can have different. However, when the structure is too complex (e.g. multipartite networks), understanding the properties of the network...
Free radical polymerization has a wide range of applications and continues to attract research interest as the demand for tailored specialty polymers grows. Sequence distribution, tacticity and composition of copolymers play a key role in understanding the reaction kinetics and the properties of the polymers 1. One of the chief...
The genetic code, a set of rules by which mRNA codons are translated into the twenty standard amino acids used in protein synthesis, was once thought to be immutable. As we expanded our understanding of molecular biology more variations in this genetic code have been found across the animal kingdom....
Advancements in nanotechnology have led to the production of devices with components with sub-100 nm size scales. Studies have investigated how properties of polymers change when confined to nanoscale dimensions. However, stiffness-confinement studies have reported increases, decreases, and invariance with confinement for different polymer/substrate pairs, making it difficult to obtain...
Polyurethane (PU) is an important commodity polymer with a broad range of applications. Increasing regulations on isocyanates have prompted investigations into alternative routes to PU. Cyclic carbonate aminolysis leading to polyhydroxyurethane (PHU) is a promising alternative. This dissertation describes the first fundamental investigation of the synthesis and properties of segmented,...
Supported metal oxides are an important class of catalysts for chemical synthesis and manufacturing, particularly for selective oxidation reactions. This dissertation seeks to understand broad relationships among families of silica-supported Group 4 and 5 metal oxide catalysts for the synthesis of epoxides with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and to further extend...