<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><div><br></div><span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION"><div xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><a name="_Toc434675189"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">MS THESIS DEFENSE STUDENT: </span></b></a><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Ammar
Aboalsaud</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">DATE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Monday,<b></b>May 2, 2016</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">TIME: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">3:00 PM</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">PLACE: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Mechanical Engineering
Large Conference Room</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">THESIS CHAIR: </span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><hr size="2" width="100%" align="center"></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; ">TITLE:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:200%"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">IMPACT OF POLYMER-GRAFTED NANOPARTICLES ON INTERFACIAL TENSION<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:200%"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> Emulsifiers have been extensively studied for various applications, the most common of which is possibly enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
The use of polymer-grafted nanoparticles as emulsifiers has been gaining interest for their small size as well as their interfacial tension reduction capabilities. This thesis investigates the impact of polymer-grafted nanoparticles on the interfacial tension
between oil and water. The oil used in this study was Hexane. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:200%"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> Two different types of polymer-grafted nanoparticles have been investigated in this study. The first is the poly(p(ethylene glycol)
methyl ether methacrylate))-grafted silica nanoparticles, SiO<sub>2</sub>-POEOMA, which is a type of hydrophilic homopolymer-grafted nanoparticles. The second is the poly(methyl acrylate-co-p(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate)-grafted silica nanoparticles,
SiO<sub>2</sub>-P(MA-b-OEOMA), which is a type of amphiphilic block copolymer-grafted nanoparticles. Both the effect of changing the hybrid nanoparticle solution concentration, as well as the effect of changing the molecular weight of the grafted polymer chains
were investigated.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:200%"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "> The study concluded that the interfacial tension reduction ability of the polymer-grafted nanoparticles enhances with increasing
the hybrid nanoparticles solution concentration, and with increasing the molecular weight of the grafted polymer chains. Increasing the hybrid nanoparticles solution concentration enhances it by providing additional particles to pack at the interface, while
increasing the molecular weight of the polymer chains enhances it by increasing the size of the particles, thus increasing the energy required to detach the particles from the interface.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:200%"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">The study also concluded that the amphiphilic block copolymer-grafted nanoparticles have better interfacial tension reduction capabilities than the hydrophilic homopolymer-grafted nanoparticles. We believe
the reason behind this to be the segregation of the polymer chains between the oil and water molecules at the interface, providing enhanced attachment.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></span><style><!--
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