Education and Outreach:

1. Development of an X-Ray Modified Rheometer for Synchrotron Polymer Research and EducationBenjamin S. Hsiao and Benjamin Chu, Stony Brook University, DMR-0415345 With this funding, a unique X-ray modified stress-controlled rheometer was designed and constructed for synchrotron research. The instrument is portable between the synchrotron scattering facilities such as the X27C beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and the ChemMat CARS beamline at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The instrumentation is particularly useful for polymers and soft materials communities to engage cutting-edge research projects including flow-induced phase transitions and hierarchical structural changes in polymer melts, block copolymers, nanocomposites, complex fluids, structured gels and biological systems. Schematic diagram of the X-ray modified stress-control rheometer for rheo-X-ray experiments at synchrotron facilities (e.g. X27C at the NSLS, Brookhaven Nat. Lab.)

2. Development of an X-Ray Modified Rheometer for Synchrotron Polymer Research and EducationBenjamin S. Hsiao and Benjamin Chu, Stony Brook University, DMR-0415345 Education and Outreach: This is an instrumentation grant started in 2004. The instrument has been constructed based on a MCR Rheometer from Anton Paar and is currently being tested for synchrotron study. It will be primarily used in X27C at the NSLS and will be made available to all general users. The X27C beamline was commissioned in 1997 by scientists from Stony Brook University (PI and Co-PI)) and industrial and government laboratories. The X27C facility is the first synchrotron beamline in the U.S. dedicated to polymer research. The major benefit of this facility is that no extensive synchrotron experience are required from general users to carry out cutting-edge experiments. More than 350 users (about 200 students and 150 scientists) from over 100 user groups (i.e. over 70 research institutes) have carried out experiments at X27C in the past six years. Beamline scientists Dr. Igors Sics (left 1) and Rajesh Somani (right 2), and graduate students Jong Khak Keum (left 2) and Xuming Chen (right 1) have been testing this X-ray modified rheometer at Stony Brook, before conducting experiments at the X27C beamline in the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory.