Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The proposed research will characterize the relationship between the structure and transport behavior of fibrous and membrane structures, especially of nanoporous structures.       Soft and porous fibrous materials are suitable for applications involving transport, filtration, separation, and absorption because they have large surface areas and their pore distributions have a wide variety of length scales. Biomembranes made of nanofibres are potentially useful in many technical application areas such as chemical or bio-defense, wound dressing, selective separation, targeted drug delivery and scaffold for tissue engineering. Their heterogeneous, anisotropic and compressible structures make them versatile, yet challenging to researchers trying to control and optimize their properties for specific end uses. The proposed work will therefore focus on fundamental studies of fluid transport in fibrous structures and biomembranes, and will apply innovative multi-scale approaches to bridge the gap between our knowledge of the macro transport behavior of fibrous materials, and our knowledge of the interaction among micro constituents of materials.       Two pieces of equipment is requested in the proposal. A  Kruss KF100SF Single Fibre Tensiometer is requested for automatic measurements of surface and interfacial tension, dynamic contact angle of single fibres (their size being in the order of micros) powders, small samples of fabrics, and sheets and membranes. An Automated Capillary Flow Porometer is requested to automatically characterize porosity, pore sizes and distributions, air and liquid permeability of textiles, membranes, and other porous structures/materials under tension, compression, or elevated temperature.     The research will lead to a better understanding of the properties and behaviors of complex materials, including nano-porous structures and biomembranes, and will provide groundwork for developing new materials/products for applications involving transport, filtration, separation, protection, adsorption and absorption, which are processes frequently resorted to in the medical/healthcare and other technical fields.