Hello World,

Wow, we have reached the halfway point. I knew it was going to arrive but I never thought it would happen this fast. I guess it’s true when they say time flies when you’re having fun. The date is 06/24/2024 marking the beginning of Week 5. I look forward to working with the rheometer more and getting some data that is needed for my research. The goal for this week is to get the data needed for all of the Polymer types.

 

Monday 06/24: Big day for me, I had the rheometer all to myself without any help from my mentor (physically). At first, it was a bit scary because I was scared that I would damage something or spill my polymers but that was just imposter syndrome talking. I was able to test two polymers without any spill or damage (yay). Reading the data was a bit challenging but with the help of my readings and the book given to me by my mentor, I was able to slightly understand what it all meant.

Tuesday 06/25: Today was quite a busy day for me, the busiest I’ve been so far. I had some time with the rheometer today and I was able to get through three more polymers, making it a total of five so far (whoop whoop). The process of getting the data went a lot easier compared to yesterday. I’m starting to become more familiar with the rheometer. For the optical tweezer, I haven’t gotten any chance with that yet but I look forward to getting some time with it next week. For lunch, I went to Taco Bell because I wanted to start conserving money. I’ve been spending way too much money on food. I was able to get a combo meal for $7  which was pretty good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 06/26:  Another day with the rheometer. Today, I tested the shear rheology of the polymers. I was only able to get through one polymer because I wasn’t quite sure what the data meant and how to interpret them so I returned to my cubicle to do some more research. With the help of my mentor and some internet search, I was able to understand a bit more how to perform the procedure. Tomorrow I will return to the rheometer to test for shear rheology of the polymers. Using a system called the APS system, I will observe how changing the temperature affects the viscosity of the polymers.

 

Thursday 06/27: I spent a bit more time today with the rheometer testing for the shear rheology. Knowing what to look for, I felt pretty confident in the data I was getting. As the temperature increases, the viscosity of the polymer that I tested decreases. I was only able to test one polymer because on my second testing, I made a little mistake, forcing me to disconnect everything and report the issue to machine handler through FOM. Other than that, I’d say it was a successful day of experiments and the data that I got looked pretty good. Once my mentor gets back from his conference, I will report the data to him and see what the next step is.

Friday 06/28: I wasn’t able to schedule a time with the rheometer  so I spent most of my time at my cubicle. I spent most of the day working on some college stuff and then making changes to my presentation. For lunch I went to the Wiess servery and it wasn’t too bad. Not a lot of appealing options today but still enough for me to have a good lunch.

 

Overall, I would say this week was a success. Although, I wasn’t able to get through all of the polymers, I was still able to get through a significant amount of my polymers and it’s all starting to make sense. Until next week.

Cheers,

Samuel