Author ORCID Identifier
0009-0003-2663-4773
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
8-31-2026
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering - (Ph.D.)
Department
Physics
First Advisor
N. M. Ravindra
Second Advisor
Ken Keunhyuk Ahn
Third Advisor
Omowunmi A. Sadik
Fourth Advisor
Junjie Yang
Fifth Advisor
Michael Jaffe
Sixth Advisor
Genoa R. Warner
Seventh Advisor
Joseph Laquidara
Abstract
Foamed polymers are widely used today for shock absorption and packaging materials to prevent damage to their contents. Typical foamed densities vary from 0.1 g/cm3 to 0.4 g/cm3 depending on the polymeric materials used. There is a need to explore foaming densities above 0.4 g/cm3 for propellants with highly engineered surface area progression for increased combustion performance. One way to achieve this is through highly controlled and engineered graded foam structures. To further exploit this approach, additive manufacturing coupled with a tunable means to generate foamed structures is the target of this work. To generate foam structures without the use of pressure or elevated temperature, alternate means of foaming are required. Vat-photopolymerization processing allows varying polymerization parameters per layer which one can introduce by implementing a novel foaming method. The proposed method is to use a photoacid generator (PAG) that relies on photosensitization of diaryliodonium salts via photoredox induced fragmentation mechanism to decompose calcium carbonate (CaCO3) at a given wavelength during printing. This work will review the effects of PAG and polymerization kinetics as the foaming occurs. Understanding kinetics and impact on the final foam structure is important. Using these methods would enable highly engineered foam architectures to be generated via an additive manufacturing process. This in turn could enable tailorable gas generation rates to improve piezometric efficiency in gun propulsion performance.
Recommended Citation
Caravaca, Elbert, "Engineered porous structures for propellants using additive manufacturing" (2026). Dissertations. 1895.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/dissertations/1895
