macoskoc

These researchers are using MSI for two projects:

• Extrusion process are widely used for shaping polymer melts into desired profile. The quality of the final product largely depends on the extrusion die. The researchers use ANSYS at MSI to help design extrusion dies to improve the extrusion efficiency and study other aspects of co-extrusion.
• Polymeric materials melt-blended under certain conditions can form a cocontinuous morphology with two continuous, interpenetrating phases. The addition of block copolymer can control the scale and improve the stability of these non-equilibrium morphologies. Block copolymers can also be generated during melt-blending by using reactive functional polymers. If one of the phases is removed from the blend via solvent extraction or etching, a continuous porous network is formed. This structure is being explored for potential applications in membrane support structures, scaffolds, and battery separators. The group uses Avizo at MSI to characterize the cocontinuous morphology.