Virginia Tech – TechConnect Briefs

Robotic Deposition to Enable Multi-Axis Material Extrusion

Kubalak J.R., Williams C.B., Virginia Tech, US

The material extrusion (ME) additive manufacturing process is extensively used in hobbyist and prototyping applications, but it is not always suitable for the fabrication of end-use components. The thermal characteristics of the layer-by-layer deposition results [...]

Metal-Monolithic Ceramic/Metal Composite Castings Produced Using 3D Printed Sand Molds and Cores

Druschitz A.P., Williams C.B., Wood B., Virginia Tech, US

Monolithic ceramic and/or metallic objects can be embedded into metal castings using 3D printed sand mold and core technologies. The resulting composite castings can have a combination of mechanical and/or physical properties that cannot be [...]

Electrospinning of decorated nanofibers with active cerium oxide nanoparticles

Camelio J., Hassounah I., Meehan K., Shehata N., Virginia Tech, US

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (ceria NPs) attract a great research and commercial interests due to its observable capability to capture radicals and dissolved oxygen molecules. Keeping ceria NPs in active form; containing Ce+3 ions with O-vacancies, [...]

Electrospinning of decorated nanofibers with active cerium oxide nanoparticles

Camelio J., Hassounah I., Meehan K., Shehata N., Virginia Tech, US

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (ceria NPs) attract a great research and commercial interests due to its observable capability to capture radicals and dissolved oxygen molecules. Keeping ceria NPs in active form; containing Ce+3 ions with O-vacancies, [...]

Molecular dynamics simulation of the transport of H2, O2, Ar, CH4 and n-C4H10 in composite poly (4-methyl-2-pentyne) and nanoparticle of cristobalite silica and faujasite silica

Achenie L.E., Yang Q., Virginia Tech, US

In industrial processes membranes made of composite polymer material are widely employed to separate gas mixtures. These membranes have better performance than membranes consisting of polymer alone. To understand the mechanism and therefore aid membrane [...]

Fluorescent Microspheres as Tags for Anti-Counterfeiting of Textiles

Campbell T.A., Ivanova O.S., Virginia Tech, US

The goal of this project is to create an anti-counterfeiting system for textiles that takes advantage of advanced materials and mobile readers. Current anti-counterfeiting systems are challenged in achieving the desired characteristics of lack of [...]

Additive Manufacturing (AM) of Quantum Dot Nano-Inks

Campbell T.A., Elliott A., Ivanova O.S., Williams C.B., Virginia Tech, US

Additive Manufacturing (AM) pertains to technologies that fabricate 3D artifacts through the successive addition of 2D cross-sectional layers. Due to this layer-by-layer fabrication process, AM allows a designer to create geometrically complex artifacts with designed [...]

Synthesis of Non-Spherical CdSe Quantum Dots

Campbell T.A., Ivanova O.S., Zimmermann K.A., Virginia Tech, US

Here we describe the synthesis of non-spherical CdSe quantum dots (QDs) through high temperature reduction in the presence of TOP (Tri-n-octylphosphine) and TOPO (Tri-n-octylphosphine oxide). High affinity of phosphine oxide to the surface of CdSe [...]

Silicon Surface Modification with Silane-functionalized Polymers

Long T.E., Viswanathan K., Ward T.C., Virginia Tech, US

The synthesis of trimethoxysilane end-capped linear polystyrene (PS), star-branched PS, and subsequent silicon (Si) surface modification with the linear and star polymers are described. Trimethoxysilane terminated PS was synthesized using sec-butyl lithium initiated anionic polymerization [...]

Nanostructure of a High-Permeability, Hydrogen-Selective Inorganic Membrane

Gu Y., Hacarlioglu P., Lee D., Oyama S.T., Saraf R.F., Virginia Tech, US

This paper describes the preparation and properties of an inorganic membrane with permeability for H2 comparable to palladium and with over 99.9% selectivity over larger species like CO, CO2 and CH4. The membrane is a [...]