Polyethylene oxide polymers are intrinsic to oil spill dispersants used in Macondo well blowout of 2010. We believe that effective thermo-physical modeling of these materials should assist the application of lab-scale results into ocean-scales. Fully defensible molecular scale theory of such materials will be challenging. This thesis is the first step towards that challenge. Molecular dynamics simulations are useful in generating structural and phase behavior data for these versatile polymers. Microstructures of PEO polymers, hydrophobic interactions, direct numerical test of controversial Pratt-Chandler theory, concentration dependence of Flory-Huggins interaction parameter and neutron scattering experiments will be discussed. / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_23524 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Contributors | Chaudhari, Mangesh I. (Author), Pratt, Lawrence (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | 121 |
| Rights | Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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