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<p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;"><img alt="Dissertation Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering" id="x_Picture_x0020_3" style="width: 8.4166in; height: 2.1354in; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" data-outlook-trace="F:1|T:1" src="cid:image001.png@01DA1C63.E0F65130"></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 18pt; color: rgb(200, 16, 46);"><b>Phase and Rheological Behavior of Colloidal Particles with Polymer-Induced Bridging Interactions</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b> </b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; color: black;"><b>Mariah Gallegos</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">November 29, 2023; 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM</span></p>
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<b>Location</b>: Agrawal Eng. Research Building (AERB), Room 222</span></p>
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<b>Zoom Link:</b> </span><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19*3aDa3q7TcBzs0OV4Y5xpDCWvG5mo3R-guw3rV5f-gHCC01*40thread.tacv2/1700582198857?context=*7b*22Tid*22*3a*22170bbabd-a2f0-4c90-ad4b-0e8f0f0c4259*22*2c*22Oid*22*3a*226ebd9c40-a460-426d-b8fe-e92429a3e3ed*22*7d__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!LkSTlj0I!Alh_4YIv8CGcrFgY57qKepAukKcR8Z2GkNpJ6vGiZlrrdidyZeNqPqFoQeuvywpcSBStbmh6W2SUIcPBW--mD4kR$" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" id="OWA65e602bf-3331-8ca4-dce9-b75c9f63d5de" class="OWAAutoLink" data-loopstyle="linkonly">Click
here to join the meeting</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Meeting ID: 281 362 072 249 </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;">Passcode: bpwZhM </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"><b>Committee Chair:</b><br>
Jacinta C. Conrad, Ph.D.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; color: black;"><b>Committee Members:</b><br>
Jeremy C. Palmer, Ph.D. | Alamgir Karim, Ph.D. | Devin L. Shaffer, Ph.D. | Stacey M. Louie, Ph.D.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(200, 16, 46);"><b>Abstract</b></span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; color: black;">Colloidal particles and polymer mixtures are widely used in applications such as paints, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and more recently have been employed
as feedstocks for extrusion-based additive manufacturing. Tailoring the interaction between colloidal particles and polymers in solutions can result in different types of attractions between particles, thereby affecting phase and rheological behavior. Polymers
that adsorb to the particle surface create physical bridges between the particles, which can drive the formation of flocs and colloidal networks.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; color: black;">Here, we investigate the phase and rheological behavior of a colloid – polymer mixture where bridging interactions were induced between trifluoromethyl methacrylate-co-<i>tert</i>-buty1
methacrylate particles by introducing poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) to the system. The formation of hydrogen bonds between PAA and particle surface stabilizers decreases as pH is increased affecting floc formation. By quantifying the dynamics and structure, we
show that the suspensions undergo fluid-to-gel transition by decreasing pH or increasing polymer concentration. We find the size of a floc is also dependent on polymer size which is likely to affect the yielding behavior of these suspensions.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; color: black;">This model system is expected to be useful for fundamental studies of the effects of bridging strength on suspension properties and understanding flocculation
processes in applications such as wastewater treatment and creation of dense markers for indirect detection of specific cell surface molecules.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0in; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; color: black;"><img alt="Engineered For What's Next" id="x_Picture_x0020_2" style="width: 8.427in; height: 0.8541in; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;" data-outlook-trace="F:1|T:1" src="cid:image002.png@01DA1C63.E0F65130"></span></p>
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