Current Research Projects Selections from published papers and funded proposals. Ion implantation of polymers creates a type of carbon composite that is difficult to duplicate by other synthesis techniques. The material becomes a mixture of carbon structures, which is modulated by different energy loss processes, as the ion decelerates in the material. Toward the mean range of the ion, the material maintains much of its polymer character, while closer to the surface, the material is a mixture of amorphous carbon and graphite clusters. These materials are in many ways meta-stable.
Any material formed by non-linear processes is critically dependent on initial conditions.
This has led to many relationships between characteristics, such as hardness and resistivity and the different conditions of implantation. Other parameters, such as polymer film thickness, truncate rather than change the microstructure. Ion Beam Modification of Polymers , CP392, Applications of Accelerators in Research and Industry , AIP Press, 1997. Students who have Bachelor of Science degrees in the classical fields of Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Mathematics are not always prepared for work in highly competitive industrial positions. The core of their education is sound, but they lack specific skills associated with high-technology materials science.