Melissa Kistler used
fluorescence to monitor the curing of epoxy on surfaces. We added a compound
(abbreviated DMANS) to the epoxy that was capable of twisting.
When the epoxy was fluid, DMANS
could twist extensively, and in this state it did not glow when hit with blue
light.
As
the epoxy cures, the matrix becomes more rigid and prevents DMANS from twisting.
When DMANS is in a rigid state, it glows brightly when exposed to blue light.
This is why we se the emission increase with time while DMANS is in a curing
epoxy.
KU Chemistry Undergraduate Research
Using Fluorescence to Monitor
Epoxy Curing on Surfaces
Melissa Kistler and Dr. Tom Betts
We
constructed a homemade device that shines light from a blue LED on a surface
(with epoxy on it). The fluorescence from the surface passes through an optical
filter before it reaches a photodiode that measures the intensity of the fluorescence.
This
is an example of our device monitoring the increase in DMANS fluorescence. The
graph on the left shows four trials of the same epoxy.
Melissa
presented the reults of her research at the 15th Annual Student Research Symposium
at Saint Joe's University in Philadelphia, PA.
