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 columnar to equiaxed transition has been studied experimentally using accurate temperature measurements and with a heat transfer mathematical model in Pb-1.5%Sn and Sn-10%Pb alloys. The behaviour of the two alloys was markedly different. In the Pb-1.5%Sn alloy, the transition did not occur until a large portion of the liquid thermally supercooled. At this point the temperature gradient in the liquid is very low, approximately O℃/mm. For Sn-10%Pb, the transition occurred at a positive temperature gradient of approximately 0.12℃/mm which confirms earlier work by Mahapatra and Weinberg. Supercooling was also found to occur in this alloy but it is not certain whether the supercooling is constitutional or thermal. The difference in the behaviour of the two alloys is related to the density of nuclei prior to directional solidification. Altering the method to release latent heat by using the Scheil equation or the Lever rule instead of the traditional linear assumption in the mathematical model did not have a significant effect on the predicted temperatures or temperature gradients in the Pb-1.5%Sn alloy. The effect was seen when the Sn-10%Pb alloy was considered. The difference is attributed to the total amount of latent heat to be released by a particular alloy. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Materials Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 258-283).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Peter F. Green. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> Simple theoretical expressions for the zero temperature energy gap and the transition temperature of a weak coupling superconductor are derived and applied to an investigation of several phenomena.</p> <p> The anisotropy of the energy gap in aluminium arising from the anisotropy in the phonon spectrum is calculated. The effect of this energy gap anisotropy on some thermodynamic properties of superconducting aluminium is investigated.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of the protons in rubidium hydrogen sulfate, and the spin-lattice relaxation time for the protons in lithium hydrazinium sulfate have been examined as a function of temperature, in order to obtain information about the motions of the protons in the different states of these substances. Rubidium hydrogen sulfate becomes ferroelectric below -15°C, and the possibility of a change in the proton resonance linewidth associated with this transition was investigated. The free-precession (spin echo) NMR technique was used to obtain the proton spin-lattice relaxation time in lithium hydrazinium sulfate, over a wide temperature range. The observed changes in relaxation time gave further data on the hydrazinium ion motions that were inferred from proton NMR studies by Cuthbert and Petch in 1963. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The behavior of polymeric systems confined into thin films is a situation that has numerous practical consequences. One particular application in which the properties of thin polymer films is becoming crucially important is in the design, formulation, and processing of photoresists for semiconductor microlithography. As devices continue to be scaled down into the nano-regime, the microelectronics industry will ultimately rely upon a molecular understanding of materials for process development. The majority of these devices are now confined in planar geometries; thus, thin films have played an ever-increasing role in manufacturing of modern electronic devices. This movement towards thinner resist films creates larger surface to volume ratios, and hence thin films can exhibit thermodynamic, structural, and dynamic properties that are different from those of the bulk material. It is thus extremely important to understand the properties of polymers when confined in such geometries for various applications including resists for lithographic patterning. In present work, the influence of a variety of factors including film thickness, molecular weight, and substrate interactions on the polymer thin film physical properties such as the glass transition temperature, coefficient of thermal expansion, dissolution rate, and diffusion coefficient was studied in detail using a combination of experimental characterization and molecular modeling simulation techniques.

Fluoropolymers are employed in countless end-user applications across several industries. One such fluoropolymer is polytetrafluoroethylene. This research is concerned with studying and understanding the thermal behavior of polytetrafluoroethylene. Such understanding is critical to predict its behavior in diverse service environments as the polymer ages and for allowing bottom up design of improved polymers for specific applications. While a plethora of experiments have investigated the thermal properties of polytetrafluoroethylene, examining these properties using molecular dynamics simulations remains in its infancy. In particular, the current body of molecular dynamics research on polytetrafluoroethylene has primarily focused on studying polytetrafluoroethylene phases, its physical nature, and its helical conformational structure. The present study is the first molecular dynamics simulations research to study polytetrafluoroethylene behavior near the glassy transition temperature. Specifically, the current research utilizes molecular dynamics simulations to achieve the following objectives: (a) model and predict polytetrafluoroethylene glassy transition temperature at different molecular weights, (b) examine the impact of glassy transition temperature on the volume-temperature and thermal properties, (c) study the influence of molecular weight on polytetrafluoroethylene melt and glassy state, and (d) determine the governing forces at the molecular level that control polytetrafluoroethylene glassy transition temperature. Achieving the aforementioned objectives requires performing four major tasks. Motivated by the scarcity of polytetrafluoroethylene force fields research, the first task aims to generate and test polytetrafluoroethylene force fields. The parameters were produced based on the Optimized Potentials for Liquid Simulations All Atom model. The intramolecular parameters were generated using the automated frequency matching method while the torsional terms were fitted using the nonlinear least squares algorithm. The intermolecular partial atomic charges were obtained using Northwest Computational Chemistry software and fitted using the restrained electrostatic potential at (MP2/6-31G*) level of theory. The final set of parameter was tested by calculating polytetrafluoroethylene density using molecular dynamics simulations. The second task involves building polytetrafluoroethylene amorphous structure using molecular dynamics at periodic boundary conditions for polytetrafluoroethylene cell at different molecular weights. We use the amorphous structure in the molecular dynamics simulations in consistence with research evidence which reveals that polymer properties such as the specific volume will differ as the polymer passes the glassy transition when it is in the amorphous phase structure whereas no variation occurs when the polymer passes the glassy transition while it is in the crystalline structure. The third task includes testing polytetrafluoroethylene melt phase properties: density, specific heat, boiling point, and enthalpy of vaporization. In the fourth and final task, we performed molecular dynamics simulations using NAnoscale Molecular Dynamics program. This task involves the polymer relaxation process to predict polytetrafluoroethylene mechanical behavior around the glassy transition temperature. Properties that are affected by this transition such as density, heat capacity, volumetric thermal expansion, the specific volume, and the bulk modulus were examined and the simulated results were in good agreement with experimental findings.