Jijun Huang

MIT.edu : Hatosopoulos Microfluidics Laboratory : Non-Newtonian fluids group

Jijun Huang

Mechanical Engineering Dept. and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies
Building NE 47-511
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 20139. jjh06@MIT.edu Tel: +1-617-324-6440

I joined the group in January, 2006 as a post-doc after obtaining my Ph.D. degree of Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. My graduate work at Austin focused on rubber toughening an amorphous polyamide (Zytel 330 from DuPont) using maleated ethylene-based random copolymer rubbers and SEBS triblock copolymer elastomers. Dr. Donald R Paul served as my graduate supervisor. Here, I am working with Profs. Gareth McKinley , Mary Boyce of Mechanical Engineering Dept. and Prof. Paula Hammond of Chemical Engineering on two projects.

My CV

High Temperature Elastomers

High temperaure elastomers have many applications, particularly in oil and gas industry. In many cases, such elastomers are required not only to be resistant to heat but also to be chemical solvents and some fluids. Typical commercial elastomers of such type are fluoropolymers that are very expensive. This project was motivated by developing new elastomers that are less expensive but still usable at temperatures of above 175 ^oC. This has been expored in two ways. First, PEEK was partially crosslinked with T_gof less than 175 ^oC. Second, block copolymers were synthesized based on PDMS. This project has been worked on by myself and a post-doc, Mike Yurchenko and supervised by both Prof. Paula Hammond and Gareth McKinley.

Nanocomposites of Polyurethanes

Nanocomposites of polyurethanes are interesting materials because of their improved tensile properties without losing extensibility. Nanocomposites were formed using laponite with various contents. We are interested in how the nanocomposites behave when the materials are subjected to large strains and high rates, and how the structure of polyurethanes and the composite morphology affect the mehanical properties. Dynamic and static mechanical properties were measured via a dynamic mechanical analyzer and Zwick mechanical tester. High strain compression testing was preformed on a split-Hopkinson pressure bar. Morphology of the nanocomposites was determined using transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Based on experimental data, a constitutive model will be developed to capture the mechanical behavior at large strains and high strain rates. A graduate student, Shawna Liff and I have been working on this project under the direction of both Prof. Mary Boyce and Gareth McKinley.