This award will support a one-year cooperative research project between Professor Hirotsugu K. Yasuda, Graduate Center for Materials Research, University of Missouri-Rolla, and Drs. Horst Ebel, Fethi Olcaytug, and Maciej Gazicki, Technical University of Vienna, Austria. The collaborating scientists are studying the process of polymerization which takes place in the plasma region of an electric glow discharge of polymer-forming gases, a process called plasma polymerization. A magnetron glow discharge system is typically used in these studies, and the scientists want to investigate the influence of the external magnetic field on the polymerization reaction and the ensuing deposition of polymeric product. The researchers intend to collaborate in the design and construction of an electromagnetic magnetron (electromagnetron) that will permit the magnetic flux in these experiments to be modified easily, even during the operation of the discharge. Professor Yasuda brings an expertise in polymerization chemistry and chemical engineering to this study. His Austrian colleagues are experienced in physics, electronics, and electrical engineering. The cooperating researchers thus have complementary strengths, though share an overlapping interest in the effects of magnetic fields on the formation and behavior of chemical species in glow discharges. Plasma polymerization has various current and potential industrial applications, including corrosion-protection coating of metals, improved adhesion of paint to metals, electroplating of dielectric materials, biomedical coatings, and improved adhesion of polymer matrix to fibers in composite materials. The development of new electromagnetron systems and the acquisition of the basic information being sought in this project should ultimately enhance industrial utilization of plasma polymerization technology.
