Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1983. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-159).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves 156-159.

The aim with this study was to investigate the effects a change of manufacturing process would have on the mechanical properties of drill bits made of a WC/Co composite used for stone cutting. The method used today is sintering, where the material is heated in a conventional sintering oven. The other method was microwave sintering, where the material is heated by radiation in the microwave region. Also an investigation of the manufacturing cost were made. The main difference between the two heating methods is that the conventional way is a rather slow process and the microwave method is very fast. The material is also heated homogeniously in the method with mirowaves, aposed to the case with the conventional sintering where the material is heated from the outside in. This makes the material harder and more wear resistent. Another positive effect is that the pysical properties of the drill bits is easier to controll, because of the very small grain growth due to the short process time.The cost of manufacturing these drill bits by microwave sintering does not exceed the cost of the conventionall sintering.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--City University of Hong Kong, 2009. / "Submitted to Department of Electronic Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): David C. Jenn, Jeffrey B. Knorr, Kevin Jones. Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-114). Also available online.

Microwave scattering from sea ice ridges is poorly understood. This thesis aims to improve the current knowledge on in situ C-band microwave scattering from first-year sea ice (FYI) pressure ridges during winter, and how C-band backscatter can vary with changes to radar and target parameters. Remotely sensed data of ridged ice were collected at a sea ice mesocosm using a LiDAR laser scanner and a fully-polarimetric C-band scatterometer. Thesis results indicate that using an incidence angle between 30 and 50° and HV polarization will best enable distinguishing between smooth and ridged ice, while using an incidence angle of 40° and HV or HH polarization will best enable detecting variations in ridge height. Overall results indicate that a significant proportion of the variance in FYI snow-free ridge C-band backscatter can be explained by incidence angle, polarization, and ridge height, with almost 88% of the variability in backscatter attributed to ridge height.

Multifunctional polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) are attractive for the design of tunable RF and microwave components such as flexible electronics, attenuators, and antennas due to cost-effectiveness and durability of polymeric matrices. In this work, three separate PNCs were synthesized. Magnetite (Fe3O4) and cobalt ferrite (CFO) nanoparticles, synthesized by thermal decomposition, were used as PNC fillers. Polymers used in this work were a commercial polymer provided by the Rogers Corporation (RP) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). PNCs in this thesis consist of Fe3O4 in RP, CFO in RP, and Fe3O4 in PVDF. Characterization techniques for determining morphology of the nanoparticles, and their resulting PNCs, include x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and magnetometry. All magnetometry measurements were taken using a Quantum Design Physical Property Measurement System with a superconducting magnet. Temperature and external magnetic field magnetization measurements revealed that all samples exhibit superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature. Blocking temperature, coercivity and reduced remnant magnetization do not vary with concentration. Tunable saturation magnetization, based on nanoparticle loading, was observed across all PNCs, regardless of polymer or nanoparticle choice, indicating that this is an inherent property in all similar PNC materials. Tunability studies of the magneto-dielectric PNCs were carried out by adding the PNC to cavity and microstrip linear resonator devices, and passing frequencies of 1-6 GHz through them in the presence of transverse external magnetic fields of up to 4.5 kOe, provided by an electromagnet. Microwave characteristics were extracted from scattering parameters of the PNCs. In all cases, losses were reduced, quality factor was increased, and tunability of the resonance frequency was demonstrated. Strong magnetic field dependence was observed across all samples measured in this study.

Engineering particles at the nanoscale demands a high degree of control over process parameters during synthesis. For nanocrystal synthesis, solution-based techniques typically include application of external convective heat. This process often leads to slow heating and allows decomposition of reagents or products over time. Microwave-assisted heating provides faster, localized heating at the molecular level with near instantaneous control over reaction parameters. In this work, microwave-assisted heating has been applied for the synthesis of II-VI semiconductor nanocrystals namely, ZnO nanopods and CdX (X = Se, Te) quantum dots (QDs). Based on factors such as size, surface functionality and charge, optical properties of such nanomaterials can be tuned for application as sensors. ZnO is a direct bandgap semiconductor (3.37 eV) with a large exciton binding energy (60 meV) leading to photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature. A microwave-assisted hydrothermal approach allows the use of sub-5 nm ZnO zero-dimensional nanoparticles as seeds for generation of multi-legged quasi one-dimensional nanopods via heterogeneous nucleation. ZnO nanopods, having individual leg diameters of 13-15 nm and growing along the [0001] direction, can be synthesized in as little as 20 minutes. ZnO nanopods exhibit a broad defect-related PL spanning the visible range with a peak at ~615 nm. Optical sensing based on changes in intensity of the defect PL in response to external environment (e.g., humidity) is demonstrated in this work. Microwave-assisted synthesis was also used for organometallic synthesis of CdX(ZnS) (X = Se, Te) core(shell) QDs. Optical emission of these QDs can be altered ased on their size and can be tailored to specific wavelengths. Further, QDs were incorporated in Enhanced Green-Fluorescent Protein – Ultrabithorax (EGFP-Ubx) fusion protein for the generation of macroscale composite protein fibers via hierarchal self-assembly. Variations in EGFP- Ubx·QD composite fiber surface morphology and internal QD distribution were studied with respect to (i) time of QD addition (i.e., pre or post protein self-assembly) and (ii) QD surface charge — negatively charged QDs with dihydrolipoic acid functionalization and positively charged QDs with polyethyleneimine coating. Elucidating design motifs and understanding factors that impact the protein-nanoparticle interaction enables manipulation of the structure and mechanical properties of composite materials.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MEng) - Swinburne University of Technology, Industrial Research Institute Swinburne - 2007. / A thesis submitted for fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Engineering, Industrial Research Institute, Swinburne University of Technology - 2007. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-193).