ASM International Worcester Chapter

Student Night
WPI Major Qualifying Project Competition

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
O'Connors Restaurant
1160 W. Boylston St., Worcester.

Undergraduate students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute must complete a Major Qualifying Project (MQP), under the guidance of academic advisors, in order to obtain their degrees. Ideally, the project synthesizes all previous study in order to solve problems and perform tasks in the chosen major field, with students striving to communicate results confidently and effectively.

Congratulations to the winners
Meghan Pajonas and Joe Hernandez

This year, the Worcester Chapter of ASM International sponsored a competition for the best MQP
presentation in the Mechanical Engineering department with special emphasis on materials research.
The three chosen finalist teams gave brief presentations of the highlights of their accomplishments.

WPI Major Qualifying Project Competition Finalists:

Chlorine Free Lubricant Selection in a Coiled Pin Manufacturing Process

Tatiana C. Winey, Ann Troy

This project focused on replacing a chlorinated forming lubricant with a non-chlorinated lubricant for the manufacture of coiled pins. A field of six lubricants was selected based on technical data sheers and ASTM standardized four-ball lubricant performance test results. The lubricants were subjected to a tungsten carbide corrosion test and then tested to determine their ability to form coiled pins during production. Results showed that of the six lubricants tested; only one was able to successfully form the coiled pins.

Nano-Structured Surface Engineering for Biomedical Implants

Meghan J. Pajonas, Joe Hernandez

Cells react to many chemical, physical and geometric cues within the extracellular environment, a process that can create problems when foreign objects such as medical implants are placed in the body. Poor cell-implant interactions can result in improper implant function or failure. However, clinical investigations have reported that implants manufactured with specific micro-scale surface topographies have shown improvements in cellular adhesion, contact guidance, and tissue integration while controlling apoptosis, macrophage activation. This study proposes that cellular interactions can be controlled by using implants with specifically designed surface characteristics.

The difficulty of fabrication and costs associated with commonly used nanofabrication methods hinders progress in these types of studies. However, this study employed a sophisticated electrochemical anodization fabrication technique to produce templates with uniform nano-sized features. The low costs and ease of production associated with this manufacturing technique are important advantages to future commercial applications of this production method. Anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) templates with highly-ordered nanopore structures were used as substrates to examine the influence of surface characteristics on cellular adhesion. AAO templates were coated with alkanethiol based (terminal groups -CH3, -OH, and -COOH) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) as well as a calcium-phosphate mixture. The coated implants were then put in contact with osteoblasts so that implant-cell interactions could be examined. Osteoblast adhesion to the template surfaces was examined and the results were quantified, allowing optimum surface characteristics to be determined.

Effects of Rotational Speed on the Diameter and Alignment of Electrospun Fibers

David Greene, Tom Regan

The production of electrospun nanofibers drawn out onto a dynamic surface is expected to align along the axis of rotation of the collecting drum. For this study, a 0.04 g/mL solution of Polystyrene and N, N - Dimethylformamide was electrospun onto rolls of aluminum foil in such a way that a continuously new surface was provided. Single fibers spanning the length of the collecting surface were created. Resulting fibers were characterized for changes in mean fiber diameter at a range of collecting speeds (0-220 inches per minute.)

Highlights of the Evening

students enjoying the meal	Prof. Liang and another student group	Diana Lados and Virendra Warke
Presentation by Meghan Pajonas and Joe Hernandez	Vice Chairman Diana Lados announcing winners	Diana Lados presenting award to winners

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Last modified: Apr 25, 2007, 15:29 EDT