Research Symposium

BIO

I am Bryce Denick, and I am a sophomore studying Chemical Engineering. I have one younger brother, who is a future nole and I am lovingly supported by my parents, Stephen and Kristen. I am actively involved in the Catholic Student Union, Air Force ROTC, Theta Chi Fraternity, and the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program. As for my future goals, I desire to be an officer in the United States Air Force and eventually travel to every state in the US. On my free time, I enjoy listening to music, weight training, running, playing sports, and spending quality time with friends and family. UROP has helped me grow in discipline, time management, and knowledge in the field of engineering, and I hope to use these skills to further propel my career.

Friction and Wear of Self-Mated High-Performance Polymer Blends

Abstract

Tribology is the study of friction and wear and helps us
understand how surfaces interact with one another.
Additionally, tribometers measure wear of a polymer across
a sliding surface, which enable researchers to contribute
their work toward the field of tribology. I have incorporated
various methods toward this project such as the computer
application MATLAB, scales accurate to the one-hundred
thousandths place, and tribometers. These devices
contribute to obtaining the wear rate of the samples tested,
each of which consists of a high-performance polymer
proprietary blend. After hundreds of thousands of cycles are
completed by the tribometer, an overall wear rate is able to
be calculated. In materials science, the balance between a
material’s wear rate and rate of friction can give insight into
the effectiveness of a material’s use in industry. This project
contributes toward the goal of improving this balance and
helps enhance the knowledge of materials science through
the action of testing these high-performance polymer
proprietary blends.

Keywords: Tribology Friction Materials Polymer Engineering