No description available.

No description available.

Jamming is a physical process which is both easy to describe and incredibly difficult to understand. One such difficulty is that mechanical treatments of jamming focus on pressure, force, stress, and strain, which are identically zero below jamming, making it hard to differentiate systems whcih which are near or far from the transition. Instead, I introduce a geometric framework based on the Voronoi tesselation which treats all of phase space on an equal footing. This work will show that the jamming transition can be seen entirely through the geometry of the local environment of particles encoded in the Voronoi tesselation, and it will build the framework for an as yet undefined field theory for jamming.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Not available / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Northeastern University, 2008. / Title from title page (viewed March 26, 2009). Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Physics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-273).

The dynamics of thin polymer films display many differences from the bulk dynamics. Different modes of motions in polymers are affected by confinement in different ways. The enhancement in the dynamics of some modes of motion can cause anomalies in the glass transition temperature (Tg) of thin films, while other modes of motion such as diffusion can be substantially slowed down due to the confinement effects. In this thesis, different modes of dynamics are probed using different techniques. The interface healing of two identical polymer surfaces is used as a probe of segmental motion in the direction normal to the plane of the films and it is shown that this mode of motion is slowed down at temperatures above bulk glass transition, while the glass transition itself is decreased indicating that the type of motion responsible for the glass transition is enhanced. The glass transition measurements at different cooling rates indicate that this enhancement only happens at temperatures close to or below bulk glass transition temperature and it is not expected to be detected at higher temperatures where the system is in the melt state. It is shown that the sample preparation technique is not a factor in observing this enhanced dynamics, while the existence of the free surface can be important in observed reductions in the glass transition temperature. The dynamics near the free surface is further studied using a novel nano-deformation technique, and it is shown that the dynamics near the free surface is in fact enhanced compared to the bulk dynamics and this enhancement is increased as the temperature is decreased further below Tg. It is also shown that this mode of relaxation is much different from the bulk modes of relaxations, and a direct relationship between this enhanced motion and Tg reduction in thin films can be established. The results presented in this thesis can lead to a possib le universal picture that can resolve the behavior of different modes of motions in thin polymer films.

The dynamics of thin polymer films display many differences from the bulk dynamics. Different modes of motions in polymers are affected by confinement in different ways. The enhancement in the dynamics of some modes of motion can cause anomalies in the glass transition temperature (Tg) of thin films, while other modes of motion such as diffusion can be substantially slowed down due to the confinement effects. In this thesis, different modes of dynamics are probed using different techniques. The interface healing of two identical polymer surfaces is used as a probe of segmental motion in the direction normal to the plane of the films and it is shown that this mode of motion is slowed down at temperatures above bulk glass transition, while the glass transition itself is decreased indicating that the type of motion responsible for the glass transition is enhanced. The glass transition measurements at different cooling rates indicate that this enhancement only happens at temperatures close to or below bulk glass transition temperature and it is not expected to be detected at higher temperatures where the system is in the melt state. It is shown that the sample preparation technique is not a factor in observing this enhanced dynamics, while the existence of the free surface can be important in observed reductions in the glass transition temperature. The dynamics near the free surface is further studied using a novel nano-deformation technique, and it is shown that the dynamics near the free surface is in fact enhanced compared to the bulk dynamics and this enhancement is increased as the temperature is decreased further below Tg. It is also shown that this mode of relaxation is much different from the bulk modes of relaxations, and a direct relationship between this enhanced motion and Tg reduction in thin films can be established. The results presented in this thesis can lead to a possib le universal picture that can resolve the behavior of different modes of motions in thin polymer films.

Residual stress distributions in injection moulded polystyrene plaques have been computed using various calculation methods based on procedures from the literature. Some of the mathematical procedures have been extended to provide improved analysis of the process. The results have been compared with measured distributions obtained using the layer removal technique. The purpose of this work was to resolve some of the disagreements between the measured residual stress distributions in injection moulded parts and those predicted by computations made in the literature. The calculations are made using the general purpose software "Mathcad". Various temperature, time and pressure dependent material models have been used to calculate the residual stress and they are compared. Special attention has been paid to choosing boundary conditions that match the moulding parameters used in the manufacture of the injection mouldings on which the measurements were made. Similarly, care has been taken to choose boundary conditions that correspond with the different actual storage times before analysis for the samples and also boundary conditions that correspond with the post-moulding conditioning. Measurements of residual stresses distributions were made on mouldings produced under conditions chosen to simplify the modelling requirements. The sensitivity of the calculations to the materials property data and to the boundary conditions used have been examined. The experimental verification includes examination of the postmoulding changes. The predicted residual stress distributions over the entire moulding and post-moulding history have been found to be in generally good agreement with the corresponding experimental results under various processing conditions and post-moulding changes. In particular, kinematic boundary conditions for the moulding conditions and the postmoulding conditions, due to different temperaturesa nd relaxation times of the polymer, have been found to be critical ingredients in the calculation of the residual stress distributions.

Les polymères semi-cristallins à chaînes semi-rigides, bien qu’abondamment utilisés dans la vie quotidienne, représentent des systèmes complexes qui ne sont pas encore parfaitement compris. Parmi les nombreux domaines de recherche sur cette famille de polymères, l’étude de la morphologie semi-cristalline et des processus de cristallisation et de fusion de ceux-ci restent des sujets très importants. L’investigation de la morphologie semi-cristalline est rendue difficile car elle présente une structure hiérarchique composée de plusieurs niveaux d’organisation, dont le plus petit est observable à une échelle très réduite de quelques nanomètres. De plus, les aspects liés à la cinétique des processus de cristallisation et de fusion n’ont pas toujours permis de bien les mettre en évidences, les rendant ainsi par très bien compris. Cependant, les nouvelles avancées technologiques dans le domaine de la physique expérimentales ont beaucoup profité à la science des polymères. Dans ce travail, une contribution originale est apportée à cette étude, et cela en combinant diverses techniques expérimentales permettant des mesures calorifiques et structurales en températures et temps réels. L’intérêt c’est porté sur les polymères linéaires aromatiques tels que le polyéthylènes teréphthalate, PET, et le polytriméthylène téréphthalate, PTT, caractérisés par une température de transition vitreuse supérieure à l’ambiante ( Tg > 50°) et une température de fusion élevée (Tm>220°C), offrant ainsi une assez large gamme de température de cristallisation (Tm-Tg). L’étude de la structure semi-cristalline du PET à l’échelle du nanomètre et de la relaxation des phases amorphes présentes dans sa structure est facilitée par l’utilisation d’un diluant amorphe tel que le polyétherimide (PEI), qui forme un mélange miscible avec le PET. L’utilisation de microscopie de force atomique AFM à haute température a permis d’observer la cristallisation isotherme de PET en temps réel et de décrire ainsi la cristallisation secondaire comme un processus d'épaississement des piles lamellaires. De plus, l’analyse de la structure semi-cristalline du PET et du PTT, dans l’espace direct, sont en faveur d’un modèle structural homogène, où l’épaisseur lamellaire moyenne est légèrement inférieure à l’épaisseur moyenne des régions amorphes interlamellaires. Ces résultats ont permis, d’une part, d’apporter une meilleure interprétation aux données obtenues par diffusion des rayons X aux petits angles (SAXS), et d’autre part, d’ interpréter le comportement de fusion multiple caractéristique des polymères semi-cristallin à chaînes semi-rigides par le seul processus de fusion-recristallisation. Dans l’étude investiguée sur les mélanges PET/PEI et sur le PTT pur, on montre que la cinétique d’un tel processus est particulièrement rapide comparée à la cristallisation. De plus, les observations par AFM et par microscopie optique de même que les mesures SAXS en temps réel ont montré la simultanéité et la compétition existant entre la fusion des cristaux et leur réorganisation durant la chauffe. Par ailleurs, la relaxation des régions amorphes interlamellaires, souvent considérées comme rigides, a pu être mise en évidence par les mesures AFM et SAXS réalisées à haute température sur des échantillons de PET/PEI semi-cristallins.