Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Joint Spring 2011 Meeting of the New England Sections of the APS and the AAPT
Volume 56, Number 2
Friday–Saturday, April 8–9, 2011; Lowell, Massachusetts
Session B1: Materials II |
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Chair: Jayant Kumar, UMass Lowell Room: UML ICC Ballroom |
Friday, April 8, 2011 3:30PM - 4:25PM |
B1.00001: Pattern Formation in Materials Invited Speaker: Pattern formation is ubiquitous in nature, from sand ripples formed by wind to the development of a complex biological organism with different organs and a central nervous system. In the realm of materials, patterns are formed invariably when matter is transformed between different solid, liquid or gaseous states far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Material failure is itself mediated by the propagation of cracks that form intricate patterns. Understanding how patterns form and evolve is key to design materials with desired properties and to optimize their performance and safety. This talk will discuss recent progress made to understand three distinct class of patterns including the highly branched snow-flake-like dendritic patterns formed during the solidification process, polycrystalline patterns shaped by grain boundaries, and crack patterns. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, April 8, 2011 4:25PM - 5:20PM |
B1.00002: Nature Inspired Surface Coatings Invited Speaker: Materials Scientists more and more are looking to nature for clues on how to create highly functional surface coatings with exceptional properties. The fog harvesting capabilities of the Namib Desert beetle, the beautiful iridescent colors of the hummingbird, and the super water repellant abilities of the Lotus leaf are but a few examples of the amazing properties developed over many years in the natural world. Nature also makes extensive use of the pH-dependent behavior of weak functional groups such as carboxylic acid and amine functional groups. This presentation will explore synthetic mimics to the nano- and microstructures responsible for these fascinating properties. For example, we have demonstrated a pH-induced porosity transition that can be used to create porous films with pore sizes that are tunable from the nanometer scale to the multiple micron scale. The pores of these films, either nano- or micropores, can be reversibly opened and closed by changes in solution pH. The ability to engineer pH-gated porosity transitions in heterostructured thin films has led to the demonstration of broadband anti-reflection coatings that mimic the anti-reflection properties of the moth eye and pH-tunable Bragg reflectors with a structure and function similar to that found in hummingbird wings and the Longhorn beetle. In addition, the highly textured honeycomb-like surfaces created by the formation of micron-scale pores are ideally suited for the creation of superhydrophobic surfaces that mimic the behavior of the self-cleaning lotus leaf. The development of synthetic ``backbacks'' on immune system cells that may one day ferry drugs to disease sites will also be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
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