Spring 2018 Seminar Series - 04/30/18

THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

PRESENTS

Professor Mitchell Anthamatten

University of Rochester  

Monday, April 30, 2018

Seminar will be held in MR-1307 (Marshak Building) at 2:00 PM

Reception will be held in Steinman Hall, Exhibit Room – 1st Floor

From 3:00 – 3:30 PM

Engineering Shape-Memory and Stress-Memory through Polymer Crystallization

Controlling network architecture and chain connectivity is critical to understanding elastic energy storage and improving performance of shape-memory polymers.  Acrylate-terminated poly(caprolactones) (PCLs) are engineered to store large amounts of strain energy upon crystallization. The highly efficient thiol-acrylate coupling reaction ensures that the molecular weight between crosslinks is uniform, resulting in tougher, elastic materials with a high degree of crystallinity and outstanding shape-memory properties with high levels of elastic energy storage. The trigger temperature can also be tuned to be near the human body temperature.  In a related effort, a two-stage curing process is describe that enables novel shape actuators that undergo fully reversible, elastic elongation in programmed direction, upon cooling. Unlike the two-way shape memory effect, actuation occurs without applied stress, and it is significant—exceeding 15% strain—placing this material in a class of only a few other known materials. Actuation is triggered as configurationally biased poly(caprolactone) chains undergo strain-induced crystallization.

Mitchell Anthamatten is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Rochester.  He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  As a postdoctoral researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he worked on the design and fabrication of laser field targets for the National Ignition Facility. Anthamatten joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in 2004. Anthamatten’s research group applies new findings from chemistry, physics, and soft matter to design and engineer advanced macromolecular and supramolecular materials. He specializes in integrating reversible molecular interactions and chemical reactions within soft systems to control order, phase behavior, and material responsiveness. His group has developed new classes of polymers with novel shape-memory, self-healing, and ion-transport characteristics.  Technologies from his lab are considered for a variety of applications including artificial muscles, robotics, and chemical separations.  Anthamatten has authored over 50 publications and has filed 3 U.S. patents while at the University, and his honors include the Provost’s Multidisciplinary Research Award (University of Rochester) and the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award.