Our People

Education:

• PH.D. Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron
• B.S. Mechanical – Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron

Research Experience / Areas of Expertise:

My graduate work was focused on twin screw compounding of CNT composites and the mechanical, rheological and electrical characterization of said composites for use in high temperature applications. I spent three years with a color concentrate and additives manufacture focused on pilot trials for customer product development and sample processing and research in the area of textile product development. I spent five years as the Material Scientist over a Materials lab for a leading dental equipment company where I led a team focused on new material testing, processing trouble shooting, failure analysis, assay standardization and biofilm generation and mitigation methods. I have been with The University of Akron for the past two years leading polymer processing trials for external customers and working with faculty and students to further their research and capabilities in areas of novel polymer processing. My areas of interest are polymer compounding, polymer processing and new product development.

Hobbies:

I am a “new” homeowner of a fixer-upper with a growing list of projects. I enjoy the hands on aspect and the opportunity to understand the complexity and effort that goes into everything from a sink drain, and what it takes to keep it from leaking, to structural design and the detail of building codes. I am especially thankful for the how to videos on YouTube and the people that take the time to highlight critical problem areas of a project!

Nancy earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, IN and her MBA from the University of Missouri – St Louis. After initial experience teaching high school science, she moved to industry as a bench chemist performing vitamin and protein analysis using a variety of analytical techniques including HPLC, GC, and UV spectroscopy. Nancy then moved into polymer testing and formulation when she joined the Royalite Division of Uniroyal Technology as the Manager of Polymer Testing. In this position, she focused on mechanical, impact, analytical and flammability testing of thermoplastic products as well as standards and certifications for UL, aircraft, automotive, building and construction, and military applications. Nancy has held similar positions with Spartech Plastics and PolyOne.

The instruments under Nancy’s responsibility include universal testing machines, DMA, DSC and TGA. Data provided by these instruments can be used individually or in combination to characterize performance and composition of materials. The universal testing machines are used for mechanical tests on materials to characterize tensile, compression, bend, peel, and tear performance. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) measures the mechanical properties of materials as a function of time, temperature, and frequency providing accurate measure of material stiffness (modulus) but also other properties such as creep, and stress relaxation. Properties measured by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) techniques include glass transitions, phase changes, melting, crystallization, product stability, cure / cure kinetics, and oxidative stability. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) is used to determine sample composition by measuring the weight of each component as it volatilizes or decomposes under controlled conditions of temperature, time, and atmosphere.

Dr. Feng earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2012, where his doctoral work was focused on engineering micro-/nano-structured surfaces to control liquid spreading. At NPIC, Dr. Feng assists users and provide technical services on various nano-mechanical, rheological, microscopy, and spectroscopy instruments including: atomic force microscope (AFM), nanoindenter, surface profilometer, shear rheometer, capillary rheometer, laser-scanning microscope (LSM), light-scattering system, and Raman microscope. Advanced characterization methods such as PeakForce quantitative nano-mechanical mapping (PF-QNM) on the AFM, nanoscale dynamic mechanical analysis (nanoDMA) on the nanoindenter, and Lambda Stack spectral imaging on the LSM are also available.

Dr. Andrew Knoll joined the University of Akron in October 2018 after completing PhD work in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park. His dissertation research was in plasma processing of polymer materials which has lead to an extensive knowledge of surface science and the characterization of materials. Currently in his position as Instrumentation Scientist at the National Polymer Innovation Center he oversees X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Auger Nanoprobe measurements, Small and Wide Angle X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Micro Computer Tomography (uCT) X-ray mapping, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermal and plasma thin film deposition systems, and visible through infrared ellipsometry systems. These techniques can be used for identification of unknown samples, determinization of crystallinity of samples, 3D reconstruction, and images of inside samples. Specific surface functional groups and chemical compounds can be identified. In addition to these duties, Andrew is also currently teaching a course in the University of Akron Honors College on energy use in society.

Education: Ph.D. in Chemistry
Experience: More than 30 years research experience on Polymer Materials Characterization, managing Electron Microscopy Lab for more than 20 years at The University of Akron
Expertise: Electron Microscopy and Polymer Crystalline Material Characterization

Current Facilities Managing Responsibilities:

GPC Lab (Gel Permeation Chromatography):
Molecular Weight and Molecular Weight Distribution Measurement
EcoSEC Elite® GPC Systems with RI/UVLS/Visc Detectors operating in temperatures ranging from ambient to 60 °C.
EcoSEC HT GPC System with RI detector operating in temperature range up to 140 °C

Microscopy Lab:
High Resolution (<3nm) imaging, Morphology, Topology, Electron Diffraction and Crystallography, Size Distribution, Compositional analysis, Nano Material Structure Determination, Element Analysis
TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) JEOL 1230
SEM/EDAX (Scanning Electron Microscope) JEOL 7401

UV/Vis Spectrophotometer:
Agilent Cary 60: With wavelength range of 190–1100 nm that can be used for both liquid and solid samples.