Browsing by Author "Davis, Fred J."
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- Chain extension in electrospun polystyrene fibres: a SANS studyPublication . Mohan, Saeed D.; Mitchell, Geoffrey; Davis, Fred J.Small angle neutron scattering techniques were used to quantify the size and shape of the chain conformation in electrospun fibres of atactic polystyrene prepared from solutions in methyl ethyl ketone. Aligned arrays of fibres were collected onto a rotating collector with tangential velocity varying between 0 ms-1 and ∼15 ms-1. The measured radii of gyration of the polystyrene chains were found to be slightly higher than that expected for samples prepared from solutions in the concentrated regime. The ratio of the radius of gyration parallel and perpendicular to the chain axis was found to be ∼1.05 in contrast to the substantial macroscopic shape transformation intrinsic to electrospinning. When the tangential velocity of the rotating collector was greater than the flight velocity of the fibres (ca. 4 ms -1), a further extension of the polymer chains was observed with a ratio of the radii of gyration increasing to 1.20 at the highest collector speeds. It is proposed that the heterogeneous processes involved, particularly solvent evaporation and the formation of a polymer skin during electrospinning play a significant role in determining the level of molecular anisotropy in the fibres. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
- Controlling Morphology Using Low Molar Mass NucleatorsPublication . Mitchell, Geoffrey; Wangsoub, Supatra; Nogales, Aurora; Davis, Fred J.; Olley, Robert H.Crystallisation is a hugely important process in physical sciences and is crucial to many areas of, for example, chemistry, physics, biochemistry, metallurgy and geology. The process is typically associated with solidification, for example in the purification of solids from a heated saturated solution familiar to all chemistry undergraduates. Crystalline solids are also often the end result of cooling liquids, or in some cases gases, but in order to form require nucleation, in the absence of nucleation supercoiling of liquids well below the melting point is possible (Cava-gna, 2009). The quality of crystals, as gauged by size and levels of order is highly variable, and may depend on factors such as material purity and the rate of cool-ing; rapid cooling may result in poor crystallisation, or even the formation of amorphous materials with no long range order. In geological systems rates of cooling may vary over many orders of magnitude, for example obsidian is a large-ly amorphous material produced when lava is rapidly cooled (Tuffen, 2003), while the gypsum crystals found in the Cueva de los Cristales in Chihuahua, Mexico can reach 10 metres in length (Figure 1) and are formed over hundreds of thousands of years. In this latter case the formation of such large spectacular structures as shown in Figure 1 can only be explained by a low nucleation rate (García-Ruiz, 2007; Van Driessche, 2011).
- Direct Digital Manufacturing of NanocompositesPublication . Mohan, Saeed D.; Nazhipkyzy, Meruyert; Carreira, Pedro; Santos, Cyril dos; Davis, Fred J.; Mateus, Artur; Mitchell, Geoffrey R.Additive manufacturing has surged in popularity as a route to designing and preparing functional parts. Depending on the parts function, certain attributes such as high mechanical performances may be desired. We develop a route for improving the mechanical properties of polymer devices, fabricated through additive manufacturing by combining electrospinning and stereo-lithography into one automated process. This process utilises the impressive mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes by encapsulating and aligning them in electrospun fibres. Composite fibres will be incorporated into polymer resins prepared with stereo-lithography, thereby providing resins that benefit from the composite fibres properties, enhancing their overall mechanical properties.
- Ferronematic liquid crystal polymers and elastomersPublication . Reeves, Sarah J.; Davis, Fred J.; Mitchell, Geoffrey R.Liquid crystal polymers, through covalent bonding, combine the spontaneous long range orientational order of the liquid crystal state with the entropically driven random coil configurations of the skeletal polymer chains in a single material [1]. [...]
- IntroductionPublication . Davis, Fred J.; Mohan, Saeed D.; Ibraheem, Muaathe A.This chapter provides a basic introduction to the topics described in this book. The principles of electrospinning, in terms of the influence of an electric field on a droplet of polymer melt or solution is introduced, and a review of some of the experimental parameters, and their relationship towards the properties of the fibres produced is given. A brief summary of the types of materials that can be electrospun is included, together with methods for their characterisation. Finally, a short review of potential applications for electrospun fibres is discussed.
- Microwave Treatment of Polyacrylonitrile Powder Method Development and Effects of Surface Modification Porosity for Supercapacitor Devices or other Mobile ApplicationsPublication . Koutsonas, Spiridon; Mitchell, Geoffrey R.; Davis, Fred J.The aim of this article is to develop a method in order to investigate the surface modifications of degraded polyacrylonitrile powders under microwave treatment in air. Microwave treatment of polyacrylonitrile powders in air recorded two stages of degradation firstly an exothermic reaction that started in the range of (86-117)°C. Secondly the Thermal runway here the weight loss reached a peak value between 80-90 percent with the small quantity of 0.25g polyacrylonitrile and in the ashes with a bigger quantity 1g of polyacrylonitrile. Scanning electron microscopy analysis technique revealed the morphological characteristics and the porosity of the carbon compound that may play an important role in the construction of high porosity area and so in electrochemical supercapacitor devices with high performances.