Fluorinated polymers of substantial high performance such as perfluorocyclobutyl (PFCB) and fluorinated aryl vinyl ether (FAVE) polymers can readily be synthesized by thermal [2+2] cyclopolymerization as a melt or by classical polycondensation. These fluoropolymers naturally possess high thermal and chemical resistance, low conductivity properties, and other mechanical properties. In this work, a method using 0th order kinetics is proposed and thermal degradation studies were conducted on six different aromatic ether-based polymers to gauge trends in activation energy barrier and differences in thermal stability by 0th order degradation kinetics. The activation barrier (E_a) obtained can give accurate insight into the stability of the polymer based only on structure for external applications. Activation energies ranging from 17 to 41 kcal/mol were obtained for the various polymers. Overall, this study provides an established method using TGA for thermal stability studies through 0th order kinetics that can be potentially used for future lab applications.

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Electromagnetic wave propagation over random sea surfaces is a classical problem of interest for the Navy, and significant research has been done over the years. Here we make use of numerical and analytical methods to predict the propagation of microwaves over random rough surface. The numerical approach involves utilization of the direct solution (using Volterra integral equation of the second kind) to currents induced on a rough surface due to forward propagating waves to compute the scattered field. The mean scattered field is computed using the Monte-Carlo method. Since the exact solution (consisting of an infinite series) to induced current density is computationally intensive, there exists a need to predict the propagation using the closely accurate zeroth order induced current (first term of the series) for time-varying multiple realizations of a random rough surface in a computationally efficient manner. The wind-speed dependent, fully-developed, Piersen-Moskowitz sea spectrum has been considered in order to model a rough sea surface, although other partially-developed roughness spectra may also be utilized. An analytical solution based on the zeroth order current density obtained by deriving the mean scattered field as a function of the range and vertical height by directly using the Parabolic Equation (PE) approximation method and the resulting Green's function has been utilized for a comparative study. The analytical solution takes into account the diffused component of the scattered field.

In this thesis, a sliding mode controller employing a new sliding surface for antilock brake system (ABS) is proposed, its stability is proven formally and its performance is compared with existing sliding mode controllers. The new sliding mode controller uses the integral-derivative surface, which includes error, its derivative and its integral, all at the same time. This and the already existing derivative surface, which includes error and its derivative only, are named zerothorder sliding surfaces. Their stability analysis is done using first-order auxiliary surfaces. Auxiliary surfaces equal the sliding surfaces when derivative of the error becomes zero. The first-order error surface, which includes only the error, and the integral surface, which includes error and its integral, were also designed for comparison. During design, tire brake force response is modelled as an uncertainty. Controllers are simulated on a road with an abrupt change in road coefficient of adhesion. Controller parameters used are optimized, which results in comparable stopping distances while braking on a constant coefficient of adhesion road. Effect of first order actuator dynamics with varying time constants and actuator absolute time delay were considered. Reaching and sliding properties of controllers were also investigated, using results on a constant coefficient of adhesion road. It is observed that zeroth-order sliding surfaces give smoother response for both derivative and integral-derivative cases. As the controllers employing error and derivative surfaces get unstable in the presence of actuator time delay, the integral-derivative surface, proposed in this study, stands as the best controller.

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The thesis deals with basic principles of metamaterials, which exhibit unusual properties in microwave applications (e.g., negative permittivity and permeability). Different type of metamaterial antennas and parameters of such antennas are described in the thesis.