9450978 Narsavage The objective of this proposal is to incorporate thermalgravimetric analysis into the undergraduate polymer chemistry lab and the required undergraduate student research program at the University of Scranton. The Chemistry Department is in the process of establishing a Polymer Chemistry major which will require two polymer chemistry courses and a polymer chemistry lab. Plans for the polymer lab are currently underway since the course is scheduled to begin in the Spring of 1995. Acquisition of a Perkin-Elmer Thermalgravimetric Analyzer TGA 7 and Thermal Analysis Controller TAC 7/DX will expand our current thermal analysis capabilities and therefore allow our students to gain significant and meaningful experience in the thermal analysis of polymers. The instrument is capable of multi-ramp experiments with heating/cooling rate ranges from 0.1 to 200 C/min in 0.1 C increments to allow for kinetics experiments. Since the instrument operates from ambient temperature to 1000 C, the study of gel processing of high Tc superconductors and polymers as precursors to ceramic materials will also be possible.
