Author Archives Seetha Raghavan

Congratulations to Sanna Siddiqui for winning 1st place for best research presentation, and congratulations to Alex Selimov for winning 2nd place for best poster.

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) hosts an annual research symposium. This is an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate researchers to present their work through a presentation or a research poster.

This year, a number of graduate and undergraduate students participated from our lab either with a presentation or a research poster. Sanna, Stephen, Imad, Alex, and Pascal were among those who presented at MAE research.

 

Congratulations to Imad Hanhan for being awarded the UCF Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award (DURA) for the month of February, 2015. Imad was chosen based on the overall merit of the research he is currently conducting as an undergraduate at UCF.

Students can apply for this award through the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), and are chosen from a panel of their peers.

Collaborators and guests Dr.-Ing Marion Bartsch, Dr.-Ing Uwe Schulz, Dr.-Ing Stefan Hackemann, and Katia Artzt from DLR (German Aerospace Center) visited UCF, and presented a panel presentation on current trends in high temperature materials research.

 

Our collaborative work with DLR in combining synchrotron X-rays with a recreated engine environment was featured as the cover story in the January 2015 ACerS bulletin. Read our article in the ACerS Bulletin: Inside the engine environment – Synchrotrons reveal secrets of high-temperature ceramic coatings.

 

 

 

 

UCF graduate student Albert Manero is currently in Germany at DLR conducting research in high temperature materials with support awarded through the US Fulbright program.

The Largest Event for Aerospace Research, Development, and Technology.

 

Check out our conference publications from SciTech 2015:

• Comparison of Thermal Barrier Coating Stresses via High Energy X-Rays and Piezospectroscopy.
              Presented by Stephen Sofronsky
• Damage Mapping of Composites with Piezospectroscopic Coatings.
              Presented by Dr. Gregory Freihofer
• Particle Size Effect on Load Transfer in Single Particle Composite Samples via X-Ray Diffraction.
              Presented by Erik Durnberg

Jack – a Hagerty high school senior mentored by Imad – is currently investigating the underlying physical theories of microwave propulsion in order to produce a more efficient and more powerful propulsion device.

This research could potentially provide a more viable alternative method of satellite propulsion as well as develop our understanding of electrodynamics and the quantum vacuum.

Alex Selimov presented to and worked with students from Professor Dennis Ahearn’s Advanced Printmaking class in order to create prints based on Piezospectroscopy and Thermal Barrier Coatings. This work was funded by ICubed and will be presented at a showcase during the Spring. ICubed is a NSF funded project whose project goal is to ensure broader impact of NSF funded projects through coordination and integration of the education and research activities of these funded projects by increasing participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Students conducting research volunteered to teach students taking the lab for solid mechanics about Piezospectroscopy. 3 groups of students were taught over two weeks. They learned about how Piezospectroscopy can be used for both tension and compression. The students who instructed the labs were Imad Hanhan, Alex Bullock, Sanna Siddiqui, Stephen Sofronsky, Pascal Fouquet, Alex Selimov, and Mateo Alvarez.

Gregory Freihofer, a recent PhD graduate from the Aerostructures lab, wins second place at the SAMPE CAMX conference in the student research symposium. CAMX stands for The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo and is a conference that is dedicated for the advancement of all aspects of composites and advanced materials. The student research symposium is a competitive program that sponsors students to present the results of their technical research. Gregory won a cash prize of $1,000 for his work.

Stephen traveled to Seattle to conduct experiments at the shock physics lab in Boeing Seattle with Gregory Freihofer and the shock physics team: Dr. Housen Bill Sweet, Dr. Damazo and Wayne Campbell, These experiments take the NSF funded GOALI Research on “Developing piezospectroscopic adhesives and coatings” and tests it in the dynamic region. The high strain rates experiments were conducted with the shock physics lab’s split Hopkinson bar and the lab’s portable spectrometer.

The Office of Science , Department of Energy has featured our work on their homepage.

The article highlights our work:

“This goes beyond any other in-situ capabilities to allow the influence of temperature, stress and thermal gradients to be studied together. This enables for the first time scientists to view the microstructure and internal strain in both the substrate and thermal barrier coating system during real operating conditions and in real time.”

Read more of the article on the ANL webpage

 

Through the Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (LEARN) program, Imad is mentoring two first year students. The two students, Steven and Luke, are working on a research project regarding the photoluminescent characterization of a hybrid carbon fiber composite, as well as developing graphical user interfaces for non-linear least squared software analysis

Our international collaboration and recent paper in Nature Communications has been featured in ACerS Ceramic tech today.

Read the full article here.

This summer Imad traveled to Purdue University to participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. During this time, Imad worked in an aerospace laboratory under the direction of Dr. Michael Sangid in a project regarding Long Carbon Fiber Thermoplastic composites.

In August, Imad presented at the Purdue SURF symposium, and was awarded “Top Research Talk” (one of 5 awards out of 143 students).

Sanna presented her research work on the “Impact of CMAS ingression on strain tolerance within the layers of a plasma sprayed Thermal Barrier Coating” at the 25th AeroMat Conference and Exposition held in June. The AeroMat conference showcased the latest developments in aerospace and materials processing.

 

This year at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence, our undergraduate researchers represented the lab with some amazing posters and presentation skills. SURE is a university wide poster presentation forum held annually at the University of Central Florida. The SURE event gives undergraduate students the opportunity to present the research they are working on and gives students a chance to learn more about the other research being conducted throughout the university. Pascal and Frank took home the honorable mention award this year.

Clockwise from top: Pascal and Frank, Imad, Alex Selimov and Alex Bullock, Michael and Drew and Jordan.

Pascal Fouquet presenting research on synchrotron analysis of thermal barrier coatings at the 2014 Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) at UCF.

The presentation won honorable mention.

Doctoral engineering student in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida has been given the opportunity of a lifetime. Albert Manero has been offered the Fulbright Academic Grant Fellowship to Germany, where he will be working with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as a part of his doctoral research in high temperature coatings for thermal protection systems with an application in jet turbine engines and for space planes. Albert has participated in an international collaboration with the German Aerospace Center since the summer of 2012 as part of our National Science Foundation OISE Catalyzing new international collaborations grant. His participation in the summer research experience in Cologne Germany set the foundation for a successful research relationship with joint publication outcomes. The Fulbright fellowship will provide Albert the opportunity to continue to forge this collaboration for his doctoral research.

The 38th International conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites was held January 27th at Daytona Beach. Organized by the American Ceramic Society’s Engineering Ceramics Division and ACerS, ICACC’14 showcased cutting-edge research and product developments in advanced ceramics, armor ceramics, solid oxide fuel cells, ceramic coatings, bioceramics and more. The topical areas include advanced structural and functional ceramics, composites and other emerging ceramic materials and technologies.. Kevin and Albert presented their research on “High Energy X-rays Characterizing the Material Behavior of High Temperature Thermal Barrier Coatings” and “Piezospectroscopy Measurement of Thermal Barrier Coating Systems.” Sanna, Kevin and Albert also had the opportunity to meet with our DLR collaborators.

AIAA SciTech 2014 was one of the largest events for Aerospace research, development, and technology. It included multiple keynotes by industry professionals from all around the nation and paper presentations showcasing research from 45 countries around the world.  Erik presented a paper on low strain rate ALOX experiments which was a result of our labs collaboration with Eglin Air Force Base. Greg presented a paper on the work our lab has done with Boeing on carbon fiber open-hole tension samples and Kevin presented a paper on synchrotron TBC data gathered at Argonne National Laboratory with a collaboration with DLR (German Aerospace Center).

The LEARN Program at the University of Central Florida introduces freshmen students to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) research and provides a hands on experience to challenge and prepare incoming students for both their academic and professional careers. Jennifer Santana and Jorge Torres [pictured on right] have been in the LEARN Program since the Fall of 2013, where they have learned the fundamentals of spectroscopy and its application for non-destructive testing in Dr. Seetha Raghavan’s Laboratory. Their Graduate Mentor, Albert Manero, has been quite excited by the progress they have made in such a short amount of time .

Our research collaboration with DLR (German Aerospace Center), CSU and Argonne National Laboratory was featured in DLR’s latest magazine on their website. The NSF funded international collaboration that started with a summer research experience for the UCF team in Germany has successfully initiated in situ synchrotron measurements of thermal barrier coatings under thermal gradients an mechanical loads. The first of our publications in Review of Scientific Instruments is now available.Ongoing research will capture the strain evolution within the layers of these high temperature coating systems that protect turbine blades under jet engine operational conditions

Ashley and Greg spent this summer conducting experiments for our research at the Applied Physics Laboratories in Boeing Seattle with the guidance of our collaborator Ms Hong Tat. These experiments are part of our ongoing NSF funded GOALI Research on “Developing piezospectroscopic adhesives and coatings”. The team brought with them our UCF-designed and integrated portable spectrometer system to collect piezospectroscopic measurements on samples under mechanical loads. This summer, faculty mentors Dr Raghavan and Dr Schülzgen took the opportunity to visit the site and meet with Boeing researchers. The results of their successful experiments will be presented at upcoming conferences.

Sanna, Claudine, Matt, Forrest and Erik present the TBC and Alumina sensing coatings research at the Undergraduate Summer Research Academy Forum held at UCF. Albert and Frank presented an overview of the laboratory to undergraduate students touring the laboratory.

 

Our group presented two papers at the 2013 Society for the Advancement in materials and process engineering (SAMPE) conference in Long Beach, CA. “Prediction of Piezospectroscopic properties with nanoparticle load transfer theories” reports on some of the outcomes of our NSF GOALI research with Boeing Research and Technology and was presented by Greg. Ashley presented her original work on “Low Strain Rate in situ piezospectroscopic studies of Alumina Nanocomposites”

The AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference (SDM) provides a unique forum dedicated to the latest developments in the collective disciplines of structures, structural dynamics, materials, design engineering, and survivability. Kevin represented our research group at this event which was held in Boston with a presentation on “Simulations Mapping Stress Evolution in High Temperature Ceramic Coatings under Thermal-Mechanical Conditions”

This year’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering research day was held at the Live Oak Event Center and featured graduate student presentations from over 30 students. Albert served as one of the lead graduate co-ordinators of the event. Sanna, Kevin, Greg and Ashley presented their research at the forum. The lunchtime poster session had several graduate and undergraduate participants. Erik and Forrest presented their poster at this event.

Drew Thomas spent the last 2 semesters in our laboratory  during his freshman year learning about research. This week marked the end of the LEARN program for Drew. The LEARN program at UCF is an initiative to encourage undergraduate freshmen to engage in research early within their area of discipline. Drew’s presentation was the award winner for the program and he was acknowledged for his demonstration of a great command of a challenging subject. His success is shared by his graduate mentors in our laboratory Sanna Siddiqui and Albert Manero who have nothing but praise for his efforts and enthusiasm. Drew’s words to his mentors: “Thanks for the great experience that I had over the course of the year and thank you for introducing me into the world of research.”

 

 

Erik Durnberg, along with co-presenters Forrest Vaughn and Timothy Johnson, received first place distinction in the College of Engineering and Computer Science Category at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research for their poster “Piezospectroscopy for Comparing Analytical and Numerical Nanoparticle Load Transfer Theories.”

The Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence is a university wide poster presentation held annually at the University of Central Florida. The SURE event gives undergraduate students the opportunity to present the research they are working on and gives students a chance to learn more about the other research being conducted throughout the university. This is the second year in a row that undergraduate students from our lab have won first place at the event.

 

Sanna F. Siddiqui was recently awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.

The NSF GRFP provides support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering research. The ranks of NSF Fellows include individuals who have made transformative breakthroughs in science and engineering research and have become leaders in their chosen careers and Nobel laureates

 

The 37th International conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites was held January 27th at Daytona Beach. Organized by the American Ceramic Society’s Engineering Ceramics Division and ACerS, ICACC’13 showcases cutting-edge research and product developments in advanced ceramics, armor ceramics, solid oxide fuel cells, ceramic coatings, bioceramics and more. The topical areas include advanced structural and functional ceramics, composites and other emerging ceramic materials and technologies..Sanna and Kevin present their research on the “Effect of Calcium-Magnesium-Alumina-Silicate on Strain within the TGO Layer of Thermal Barrier Coatings” and “Acquisition Techniques for Synchrotron X-ray Strain Measurements in Tubular TBC Specimens for Thermal Gradient Mechanical Testing”.

 

Along with Dr Gordon’s group at UCF, our group had the pleasure of hosting a visit from the Energetic Materials Branch within the Munitions Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin AFB. Dr Jennifer Jordan, internationally recognized for her research in high strain rate response of polymers and composites, presented a seminar on the “Mechanics of Particulate Composites”. Dr Sunny is responsible for the Mechanical testing laboratory for energetic materials and assists with the strategic direction for theoretical and computational efforts related to energetics at Eglin AFB. He presented a talk on “A High Strain-rate investigation of a Bulk Metallic Glass.”

 

 

The LEARN program at UCF is an initiative to encourage undergraduate freshman students to engage in research early within their area of discipline. Anselmo Crespin and Drew Thomas who are both freshman aerospace engineering students spent this semester learning about thermal barrier coatings and the process of data analysis as part of the LEARN program from their mentors Sanna Siddiqui and Albert Manero.

This summer, Greg .and Amy gained research experience in Seattle under the guidance of our collaborator Hong Tat of the Applied Physics Non Destructive Evaluation group, Boeing Research & Technology as part of an NSF funded GOALI research project. In efforts to understand the applied research potential of the fundamental studies they have been conducting at UCF on stress sensing coatings, they were introduced to various techniques and standards used by the aerospace industry. Following their summer experience, they will continue their work on developing these coatings to monitor integrity of aerospace structures

 

 

As part of a Catalyzing New International Collaborations award from NSF, Albert and Kevin spent their summer expanding their research knowledge in the area of high temperature coatings at DLR Aerospace, German Aerospace Center, Germany’s national research center for aeronautics and space research. Under the guidance of Dr Marion Bartsch, the students were provided opportunities to learn about coating processes, simulation and thermal gradient fatigue testing conducted at the advanced facilities. Their scientific experience was complemented with activities such as the DLR Annual company picnic and visits to Forschungszentrum Jülich and Siemens giving them an insight to the society, culture and language. The collaboration will lead to new techniques for in situ synchrotron measurements under thermal gradients and mechanical loads with collaborators at Argonne National Laboratory.

 

Gregory Freihofer was given the opportunity to present two papers at the Society for the Advancement in materials and process engineering (SAMPE) conference in Baltimore this 2012. One of the papers that Greg presented “Embedded alumina nanoparticles as diagnostic coatings for structures” was awarded 3^rd place for the Outstanding paper award at the SAMPE conference. Greg was able to proudly accept this award on behalf of his student co-authors Ashley Jones, Emrecan Ergin, Kevin Lautenslager, and Will Gysi and our collaborators Dr Schülzgen (CREOL) and Hong Tat (Boeing Reseearch & Technology).

Steven Scott and Will Gysi attended the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) User Meeting. World renown researchers and scientists were in attendance presenting their novel research. Both Steven and Will participated in workshops pertaining to the Advanced Photon Source and the Center for Nanoscale Materials. Steven presented his poster on “The Role of Thermo-mechanical Loads on Depth-resolved EB-PVD TBC’s – in situ Synchrotron Experiments”  and Will presented his poster on “Stress-Sensing Nanomaterials using Photo-simulated Luminescence Spectroscopy.” The trip was an overall success and the experience and knowledge gained will be brought back to the UCF lab.

An outreach video made by our researchers “An Undergraduate Story” won Best Documentary in the ANL Users Meeting “Usies” Video Competition. The effort, led by Steven Scott, showcases undergraduate participation at Argonne National Laboratory made possible through our NSF funded research on high temperature coatings.It highlights the success of our undergraduate researchers and the opportunities for high impact research available to undergraduates. The video is showcased in our website video page.

 

 

Will Gysi and Kevin Lautenslager received first place distinction at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence for their poster on “Stress-sensing Nanomaterials Using Photo-Stimulated Luminescence Spectroscopy” in the College of Engineering and Computer Science Category 1. Spencer Frank and Erik Durnberg received honorable mention for their poster on “A Theoretical Model of Load-Transfer in an Alumina Nanoparticle Filled Epoxy Matrix to Obtain Stress-Sensing Characteristics”.

The Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence is a poster presentation of undergraduate research held annually at the University of Central Florida. This showcase gives undergraduate students the opportunity to present the research they are currently working on.

Spencer Frank been awarded the NSF Graduate research fellowship. The award will support Spencer as he pursues his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley. With over 3 years of undergraduate research background in our laboratory with various contributions in areas of turbine blade flutter, piezospectroscopy and mechanics of nanocomposites, we know that Spencer is more than ready for his next endeavor. The program recognizes and supports outstanding students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in fields within NSF’s mission.  The GRFP provides support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering research. The ranks of NSF Fellows include individuals who have made transformative breakthroughs in science and engineering research and have become leaders in their chosen careers and Nobel laureates.

 

53rd AIAA/ASME/ASME/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference: Materials Conference: This established annual conference is a widely acknowledged event that provides a unique forum dedicated to the latest developments in the collective disciplines of structures, structural dynamics, materials, design engineering, and survivability. Plenary presentations by recognized, forward-thinking invited speakers are a special feature of the conference. This year’s presentations were organized around the potential applications of structures, structural dynamics, and materials in the next generation of aircraft. Talia presented “Synchrotron X-rays Monitoring Nano-Aluminim Grain Growth of a Metal Matrix Composite under Thermo-mechanical conditions on behalf of her student co-authors, Ashley Jones and Melan Jansz.

 

 

The trip to CNM was part of a collaboration with CNM scientists to develop nanoscale experiments to investigate the fundamentals of the stress sensing behavior for varying alumina nanoparticles. Using electron beam (E-beam) lithography, “nanobuckets” were created in Si wafers of various sizes and filled with an epoxy/alumina nanoparticle mixture.

The sample development will pave the way for experiments using an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) within a confocal backscattering setup for measuring Photo-luminescence from the samples. These fundamental studies will investigate a range of particles, quantifying a multitude of important nano-composite properties such as interface strength, load transfer, and piezospectroscopic properties

 

Our publication on the “Characterization of particle dispersion and volume fraction in alumina filled epoxy nanocomposites using photostimulated luminescence spectroscopy” was selected as a feature article by Polymer Journal.

The paper authored by Amanda Stevenson, Ashley Jones and S. Raghavan presents a novel method of evaluating the dispersion o alumina nanoparticles within a polymer matrix as well as creating a calibration for filler particle volume fraction. Polymer Journal publishes a wide variety of article types on cutting-edge developments in macromolecule research.

 

As part of the MMAE Fall Seminar Series, Dr. Anette Karlsson visits UCF to present a lecture on “The microstructures of arthropod exoskeletons and the mechanical behavior of bio-inspired composites”. Dr. Karlsson visits the team’s lab to get an update on our work on Synchrotron XRD in-situ strain measurements of EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings and on Characterization of alumina-filled epoxy nanocomposites using photo-stimulated luminescence spectroscopy.

John Ergin is a graduate student from Chalmers University in Sweden, working in our lab as part of the ALOX team researching stress sensing coatings using photo-stimulated luminescence spectroscopy. John received his Bachelor’s Degree in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at Yildiz Technical University in Turkey and is set to earn his Masters Degree in Advanced Engineering Materials at Chalmers University in June 2012. Welcome, John!

Rene Diaz (recently graduated) has been nominated and chosen for the undergraduate of the month award based on the overall merit of the research he has conducted at UCF, entitled,  “In-Situ Strain Measurements of EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings using Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction under Thermo-Mechanical Loading”. This award recognizes excellence in undergraduate research at the University of Central Florida and honors students who have excelled in academic research under the mentorship of a UCF faculty mentor. Rene will receive a certificate as well as a write-up in the Office of Undergraduate Research’s monthly newsletter and recognition on their website.

Ashley and Rene have been awarded NSF Graduate research fellowships. The program recognizes and supports outstanding students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in fields within NSF’s mission.  The GRFP provides support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering research. The ranks of NSF Fellows include individuals who have made transformative breakthroughs in science and engineering research and have become leaders in their chosen careers and Nobel laureates

Both Ashley and Rene are active undergraduate researchers working on high impact research in our laboratory. In addition to their excellent academic and research portfolio, they have been active in mentoring and volunteering efforts. Ashley’s research has been funded by the UCF Office of Research and Commercialization In-house Research Grant and Rene has been funded by FCAAP and the NSF I-cubed program. Both Ashley and Rene have been supported by the Undergraduate Research Initiative by the UCF Office of Research and Commercialization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our laboratory’s strong presence at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence UCF this year was felt with contributions from Talia and Ashley for their work on metal matrix composites, David and Spencer for their work on Flutter prediction for turbine blades. Rene presented his work from his summer experience at JPL on bulk metallic glass.

At the invitation of Professor David Clarke, Dr Raghavan presented a
lecture at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University. The lecture, “In-situ studies in spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction – mapping strain evolution in aerospace materials” was based on the unifying theme of mechanics of materials research conducted in Dr. Raghavan’s laboratory.

 

Reme Diaz presented his research on “In-Situ Strain Measurements of EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coatings using Synchrotron X-Ray Diffraction under Thermo-Mechanical Loading.” at the 49th AIAA ASM meeting. The AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting is the first major multidisciplinary event of the year for aerospace scientists and engineers from around the world. It provides an ideal forum for scientists and engineers from industry, government, and academia to share and disseminate scientific knowledge and research results with a view toward new technologies for aerospace systems. This meeting is built around excellent technical paper presentation sessions. Rene’s work was funded by FCAAP.