Kennedy Space Center Rocket Park – After Conference Presentation!

Author: Jade Thomas | Major: Mechanical engineering and Physics | Semester: Fall 2023

My name is Jade Thomas and I am a part of the College of Engineering and the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. I am double majoring in Mechanical Engineering (Aerospace Concentration) and Physics (Astronomy Concentration), with a minor in Nanotechnology. My mentor is Dr. Wan Shou of the Mechanical Engineering Department. This blog is for the Fall 2023 semester of funding. My future plans are to attend graduate school for my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering next fall.

My research focuses on characterizing a specific shape memory polymer. A shape memory polymer is a type of thermoplastic material that can memorize one base shape, and temporarily memorize many different shapes. This property allows you to mold the material to a series of shapes utilizing an external stimulus, such as heat. For my research specifically, I am focusing on improving the knowledge on the capabilities and base characteristics of this specific polymer, as it is a useful, cheaper alternative for actuators and deployables on spacecraft, such as CubeSats.

I took Introduction to Materials with Dr. Shou in Fall 2021. Shortly after, in Spring 2022, we began discussing my Honors College Research requirement and Dr. Shou became my advisor. Following that, I began working in his lab in Fall 2022. I started out in literature review, reading interesting papers and searching for a topic I was interested in, while assisting graduate students with work where needed. Halfway through the fall semester, I found my topic, Shape Memory Polymers (SMPs). I read several papers about SMPs and was intrigued by their properties and potential applications in the aerospace community. After discussing them with Dr. Shou, he informed me about an under-studied SMP that I could begin testing. Towards the end of the fall semester, I began extensive testing of the specific SMP, focusing on pushing the limits of its abilities and investigating how its properties change with different manufacturing methods. I continued this research into Spring 2023, when I received Honors College funding.

I have already written about several hurdles in my blog post for last semester, and having passed those challenges, the research completed for this semester posed fewer obstacles. I primarily focused on improving repeatability and methodology of the experiments already completed. This did include needing to learn a new laser processing system for cutting the material.

As with last semester, I received much support from Ph.D. students in our lab and from my faculty mentor, Dr. Shou. I would not be able to perform this research without their training and guidance, and the support of the Honors College. After every completed experiment, I analyze the data and discuss it with Dr. Shou in order to know I am taking the right direction and that the results are sound and usable.

I plan to continue this research in the spring in order to have more results for my honors thesis. After next semester, I will begin graduate school for my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, most likely working on research that is tangentially related to this project, but certainly utilizing the skills I was able to learn in Dr. Shou’s lab and at the University of Arkansas.