High-Performance Polymer Fibers

Specifically, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). I am interested in discovering methods of improving the sustainability of the production of UHMWPE through the use of bio-derived solvents, such as terpenes extracted from waste orange fruits, for gel spinning and the inclusion of nanoparticles to push the performance envelope of these fibers. This work has been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Fuel Cell Technologies Office via award DE-EE0009239.

Just finished my write up on this custom #3dprinted hopper that I designed for our lab-scale melt spinning machine. Check it out with pix, vids, and #CAD on my blog (link in bio).

Hello World! For those who are new to me, I am a PhD student in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department at @uvaengineering . With this account I hope to share in the research and design work I perform throughout my time at UVA and beyond.

Low-Cost Carbon Fiber

Using carbon fiber in the construction of vehicles can significantly improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing vehicle mass through the replacement of dense metals with low-density carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites. However, carbon fibers are expensive to produce. So, my research focused on converting low-cost, melt-processible, precursor materials into high-performance carbon fibers for structural applications. This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office and Fuel Cell Technologies Office via awards DE-EE0008195 and DE-EE0009239 respectively.

My posts about this project: