Monday: We ran the calibration today which was pretty easy. We put on our masks, lab coats, and gloves as well as goggles. We had to figure out how to run the machine for the calibration. Luckily, we found some manuals on the internet so we didn’t have much trouble at all. In order to record the sample concentrations via a high resolution picture (using the machine), we had to get a 17 gram sample of each sample of powder and put it under the machine. So after doing that, we recorded our results using the iColor software. Then we copied the results and put it into an Excel document and then from there, we finally made the calibration curve graph. Now we are equipped to start the RTD but we probably won’t start it for a few more days because we seem to have some other tasks that we need to do.
Tuesday: We will be going to NJIT on Thursday to discuss primary particle size with another professor that used to work at Rutgers. He told us to bring samples ranging from 3-5 grams each so yesterday we filled 5 vials with about 10 grams each just to be safe. The sample that we used was the sample from our previous mulling experiment. We were unsure if the water was too low so we put it in the oven yesterday and left it there for 20 hours to see how much water was evaporated. We found out that only 2 percent of water was lost so we were able to use that sample for our NJIT trip. Dr. Panikar finished making the calibration curve today and we seem to be on track. We also studied the excel document a little just to figure out what some of the abbreviations stood for and what they meant.
Wednesday: Today I learned a lot about the objectives of the lab. During my summer experience, I will be working on 3 mini projects: Mulling/NIR, RTD, and Extrusion. This lab is really interesting because it is not an ordinary lab. It’s purpose isn’t to discover something new in the field of science rather it does research for companies that want to improve their profits and technology. So the lab basically answers any science related questions that the company has by doing research on the company’s machinery and products. Today, Dr. Panikar and I worked on setting up the RTD experiment. In order to do so, we had to clean up the feeder which was quite difficult because the feeder is full metal and its also heavy. But we were able to take it apart and clean it up. Also, we engineered a way for the muller to dispense the RTD powder into the vials quite effectively after each time interval. We also worked on the NIR characterization and how to engineer a good way to do so. The goal is to place the NIR close to the paste when it is being excreted from the muller in an effective way so that the NIR is sensing all of the sample. I proposed an idea that we made an aluminum tube so that all the dispensed paste would be in the same place and that the NIR could sense it. However this still requires some thought.
Thursday: Today we visited NJIT in order to find out means for measuring particle size. We needed to measure particle size at NJIT because Rutgers does not have the proper machinery that we need to measure our particle. First of all, our type of alumina is very small, only about 50 to 60 um. This means that the machine has to have a high amount of precision and accuracy to measure our particle. Also, we need to obtain our particles back from the machine meaning that the machine can’t destroy the alumina. It is very difficult to find a machine that has the capability of measuring such a small particle and not be destructive. We thought that we could use a machine called the RAMAN in order to measure particle size. However we found out that this is not possible because the RAMAN can’t measure the particle in 3 dimensions but only in 2.
Friday: Today we finally ran the RTD experiment. We set up the lab and calibrated all of the equipment to the proper feeder rate and the proper muller RPM. We tried to do a trial with us two only however it was difficult. We needed one person to pour the dye into the muller and record the time. We needed another person to collect the powder falling out of the muller after the dye was injected every 10 seconds. The problem was that someone has to constantly be watching the time and there has to be someone who has a vial under the exit of the muller. However, when I have to get a new sample, a lot of the powder that is falling out of the muller goes to waste during that transition period which can skew results. So we asked someone to help us and the experiment was a success.
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