Emulsion rheology and properties of polymerized high internal phase emulsions
High internal phase emulsions are highly concentrated emulsion systems consisting of a large volume of dispersed phase above 0.74. The rheological properties of high internal phase water-in-oil emulsions were measured conducting steady shear, oscillatory shear and creep/recovery experiments. It was found that the yield stress is inversely proportional to the drop size with the exponent of values between 1 and 2. Since the oil phase contains monomeric species, microcellular foams can easily be prepared from high internal phase emulsions. In this study, the microcellular foams combining a couple of thickeners into the conventional formulation of styrene and water system were investigated to understand the effect of viscosity ratio on cell size. Cell size variation on thickener concentration could be explained by a dimensional analysis between the capillary number and the viscosity ratio. Compression properties of foam are important end use properties in many practical applications. Crush strength and Young's modulus of microcellular foams polymerized from high internal phase emulsions were measured and compared from compression tests. Of the foams tested in this study, the foam prepared from the organoclay having reactive group as an oil phase thickener showed outstanding compression properties.
Design and development of a novel high performance emulsion explosive using nanoparticles
Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree 
Doctor of Technology: Chemical Engineering 
in the Faculty of Engineering 
at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology 
2014
Evolution of carbide precipitates in Hastelloy N joints during welding and post weld heat treatment
Abstract The effects of welding and post weld heat treatment (PWHT) on the morphology, composition and lattice parameter of the precipitates in the welding joints of Hastelloy N alloy have been investigated. Joint samples were prepared using a gas tungsten arc welding process with ERNiMo-2 fillers, and then solid-solution treated at 1100 °C for 20 min. After welding, eutectic M6C carbides can be observed in the heat affected zones (HAZ) and weld zones (WZ). These eutectic M6C carbides become spheroidized during the following PWHT. The concentration of Si decreases during the transformation from the primary ones to eutectic ones, and then increases during the spheroidizing process. The total concentration of Si + Cr in M6C carbides remains stable during welding and PWHT. At the same time, the heat leads to the outward diffusion of Mo from the M6C carbides, which results in a decrease of the lattice parameter.