The research objective of this Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award is to acquire a DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry) system to measure the temperature and heat flow corresponding to the thermal performance of materials, both as a function of time and temperature. The DSC instrument provides qualitative and quantitative information on endothermic/heat absorbing (e.g. melting) and exothermic/heat releasing (e.g. solidification of fusion) processes of materials. The DSC system will be shared and utilized under interdisciplinary collaboration by eight faculty members' multiple research groups. Some of the key research that will be supported by this equipment includes: 1) experimental study of advanced heat transfer fluids for renewable/nuclear/fossil power plant applications and computational study of thermodynamic modeling to predict phase transition behaviors of novel multicomponent mixtures; 2) study of characterization of TICPET (Thermally Induced Condensed Phase Electron Transfer) and metal halide salt chemistry; 3) identification of various oils and fats through experimental stability analysis by detection of crystallization shift; 4) investigation of phase transitions and crystalline transitions of ionic or other nonaqueous liquids in the absence of applied electric field; and 5) determination of heats of combustion in solid biofuels.
The DSC system will provide opportunities to establish a collaborative, cross-disciplinary research team exploring a set of studies related by their interest in complex salts, ionic liquids, and other energy related projects. In addition to the novel material development, the DSC system will provide advanced research experience to many students over time, enhancing their competitiveness in the thermal/fluids/energy, chemistry, and food science areas. The DSC system will be an important addition to existing equipment supporting a wide variety of research projects funded by NSF and other federal agencies. Furthermore, the DSC system will enhance R&D capacity and skills for faculty and researchers at the Center for Efficient and Sustainable Use of Resources (CESUR) at Arkansas State University (ASU).
The project has installed a DSC (Diifferential Scanning Calorimetry) system (Q2000, TA Instrument) to measure the temperature and heat flow corresponding to the thermal performance (enthalpy, heat capacity, phase transition, decomposition, reaction, and latent heat, etc.) of materials, as a function of both time and temperature. A TGA (Thermogravimetry) system (Q500, TA Instrument) has also been acquired with buy one get one deal for university deal. Both systems have been located at Arkansas State University (ASU) in Jonesboro. The DSC/TGA systems have supported multidisciplinary research in ASU since the PI (Dr. Jeong) in Mechanical Engineering has conducted experimental study on advanced heat transfer fluid development for thermal energy storage (TES) system in concentrating solar power plant (CSP), and Co-PI (Dr. Draganjac) in Chemistry has studied the high temperature reaction between copper metal and a series of metal chlorides sans solvent. Dr. Jeong has experimentally demonstrated the novel heat transfer fluids phase transitioned at 114.89 oC (Figure 1) subject to current 220 oC of commercial salts, which has been extended to a computational study (Figure 2) to predict the thermal behavior using the Total Gibbs Energy Minimization Technique. Recently the PI has constructed an experimental simulator (Figure 3) for TES scaled down from the Andasol CSP in Spain for pilot scale validation, which is the first simulator in the US. Dr. Jeong has performed eight technical presentations and submitted three NSF proposals including CAREER, BRIGE and SEES on the TES research. Total ten students including five Ark-LSAMP (Arkansas Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation) students have been hired/trained for the PI’s research through broadening participation. The PI has successfully won the NSF sub-award from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for the research: Test-Bed Development of Advanced Flow Battery for Renewable Power Plant Application in conjunction with the Co-PI, Dr. Engelken. The PI has also applied the DSC and TGA for teaching ENGR6013 Advanced Experimental Method for students’ hands-on experiences on the-state-of-art measurement techniques in collaboration with the Co-PI, Dr. Edgar. They have been working on a research paper to be published. Drs. Draganjac and Jeong have been co-working on electron transfer reactions (Figure 4) observed when RuCl3, AgCl or CuCl2 was reacted with Cu. Reactions of AgCl, RuCl3 or CuCl2 with Sn and Cd are currently underway. For AgCl or RuCl3, large amounts of heat have been observed. The temperature profile for the AgCl/Sn reaction increases temperature by 90oC. They have presented the research results in five conferences. Two students have been trained for the research topics. They currently seek extramural funding support to the interdisciplinary research collaboration by establishing a material research group at ASU.
