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Polymer Program Title

Chong S.P. Sung

Professor of Chemistry

Education

Ph.D.Polytechnic Institute of New York
M.S. Polytechnic Institute of New York
B.S. Seoul National University

Contact Information

Phone: (860) 486-4630
Email: chong.sung@uconn.edu
Website: http://web.uconn.edu/chemistry/sung.htm

Research Interests

Spectroscopic Characterization of Polymers and Composites:

Fiber-optic UV reflection, fluorescence techniques, Near IR and photo-acoustic are being used to characterize cure, water-uptake and oxidation in polymers. Intrinsic fluorophores are being used for characterization and in-situ monitoring of cure process, water-uptake and oxidation in polymers. These fluorophores are designed to respond to the chemical changes occurring in polymers rather than to the viscosity changes, thus making them more sensitive and quantitatively correlated to the chemical processes. Sensor molecules are designed to generate spectral response at different spectral regions so that each process can be monitored independently in epoxy, polyimide, polyurethane and polyamide. In addition to monitoring of these chemical changes, cure kinetics and mechanisms have been studied. Near IR spectroscopy is being evaluated to compliment fluorescence and UV-visible techniques in polymers such as in unsaturated polyesters. Recently, the same techniques were applied to characterize polymer surfaces and interfaces in regards to surface composition, interaction with water, molecular orientation and failure mode analysis, for in-situ surface characterization techniques. NIR spectroscopy is used to probe the details of the water species adsorbed in epoxy, nylon, and Nafion so as to correlate with the property changes such as the glass transition temperature and conductivity. For difficult characterization cases such as in graphite fiber reinforced epoxy or polyimide composites, photo-acoustic spectroscopy is used to monitor cure kinetics and water-uptake. (Supported by B.J. and C.H. Park Foundation).

Synthesis and Characterization of Anti-Static Polymers:

New organic dispersion of conducting polymers using polymeric ionic liquids as stabilizers are synthesized and characterized by conductivity, spectroscopy and electro-chemical analysis. (Supported by Ins Con Co.)

Recent Publications

  1. D. Koo, and C.S.P. Sung, “Characterization of Water in Nafion by Near–IR, Solid-State NMR Studies and Conductivity Measurement” ACS Proceedings of Polym. Mat. Sci. & Eng., 96, 614, 2007
  2. R. Vijayaraghavan and C.S.P. Sung, “Cure Characterization of Polymide-Graphite Composite by FT IR-Photoacoustic Spectroscopy”, ACS Proceedings of Poly. Materials Sci. and Eng., 96, 505, 2007
  3. K.H. Lee and C.S.P. Sung, “Cure and Water Sorption Studies in Graphite fiber/Epoxy Composites by Photoacoustic Spectroscopy”, ACS Proceedings of Polym. Materials Sci. and Eng., 94, 386, 2006
  4. H.Chun, C.S.P. Sung, R. Sawin, M. Reiley, S. Fernandez, D.H. Choi and K. Lim, “Polymeric Electroptic Light Modulator based on Grating – Coupled Surface Plasmon Resonance”, Macromolecular Research, 13, 463, 2005
  5. D. Koo, S-H. Han and C.S.P. Sung, “Characterization of Water in Perfluorosulfonic Acid Polymer (Nafion) by Near-IR and Pressure DSC Studies”, Proceedings of ACS Polym. Mat. Sci & Eng., 93, 465, 2005
  6. O-K. Kim, W.H. Kim, Z. Huang, J.T. Je and C.S.P. Sung, “White Light Emission from two blue emitters of an equimolar (1:1) blend in single-layer device”, Synthetic Metals, 150, 189, 2005
  7. D. Xu and C.S.P. Sung, “Characterization of Water in Nylon-6 by Near-IR and Modulated DSC Studies”, ACS Polym. Mat. Sci. & Eng. 92, 463, 2005
  8. O.-K. Kim, Z. Huang, E. Peterman, S. Kirkpatrick and C.S.P. Sung, “Novel Two-Photon Absorbing Oligomeric Chromophores: Property Modulation by Pi-Center” in Chapter 12, pp. 161-172, in ACS Symposium Series 888, “Chromogenic Phenomena in Polymers: Tunable Optical Proprties”, S.A. Jenekhe and D.J. Kisrow, edts. American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 2005
  9. M.S. Kim and C.S.P. Sung, “Intrinsic UV Reflection and Fluorescence Studies for Water Absorption in Polycarbonate, Polyurethane and Poly (ethylene tereputhalate) films, Fibers and Poylmers, 6, 127, 2005
  10. A. Rigail–Cedeno and C.S.P. Sung, “Fluorescence and IR Characterization of Epoxy Cured with Aliphatic Amines”, Polymer 46, 9378, 2005
  11. B.L. Gruden and C.S.P. Sung, “Cure Characterization of Unsaturated Polyester Resin by Fluorescence Spectroscopy”, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 94, 2446, 2004

 

Polymer Program: 860.486.3582: polymer@ims.uconn.edu