EDUCATION
Ph.D. Polymer Engineering (GPA: 3.74/4.0)
The University of Akron, Akron, OH Expected Nov 2015
Master of Technology (M.Tech.) Chemical Engineering (CPI: 9.6/10.0)
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India May 2010
Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) Chemical Engineering (CPI: 8.7/10.0)
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India May 2010
INDUSTRIAL EXPERIENCE
a) Industrial Intern, Schneller LLC., Kent, Ohio Sept-Oct 2013
Collaborated with a team of product development researchers testing various
adhesives on aluminum and flexible substrates and laminates for airplane interiors.
b) Industrial Intern, Reliance Industries Limited, Jamnagar, India May-July 2008
Developed a method of improving atomization of feed fuel by addition of
surfactants to minimize droplet size thereby enhancing yield in Fluidized
Catalytic Cracking(FCC) process.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Graduate Research, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio Aug 2010-Present
a) Innovated, characterized and optimized a novel, robust and reproducible Direct Immersion Annealing (DIA) process with potential roll-to-roll (R-2-R) integrability on an industrial scale. This development will allow micro-phase separation, alignment and generation of long range order in thin block copolymer films on flat and patterned substrates via simple immersion into solvent mixtures thereby overcoming constraints faced during thermal and conventional solvent vapor annealing.
b) Surface modification of airplane interior coatings via gradient surface energy modification (UVO exposure) to imitate real leather (in collaboration with Schneller LLC., Kent,Ohio).
c) Studied and mapped the regimes of molecular weight of Polystyrene (PS) and surface energy of PDMS flexible substrate films where cracking of as-cast PS thin films was suppressed.
d) This study of fundamental importance determined the stability for coatings on
flexible substrates.
e) Fabricated and successfully tested (at Brookhaven National Laboratory) In-situ GISAXS/
WAXS setup for nanostructure characterization of thin polymer films immersed in solvent(s) to study block copolymer phase separation and track grain growth.
f) Designed and tested a setup for In-situ Neutron Reflectivity (at NIST) to study kinetics of ordering of lamellar thin block copolymer films immersed in solvent(s).
g) Ongoing study: dewetting of polymer blends containing nanoparticles for fabrication of novel macro- and nano-structures.
h) Ongoing study: dewetting of thin bilayers to fabricate novel macro- and nano-structures.
Master Research, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India May 2009-May 2010
Thesis: Instabilities in Thin Viscous Bilayers Subjected to van der Waals and Electric Forces
a) Studied behavior of viscous slipping bilayers under the influence of intermolecular and electrical forces through non-linear simulations.
b) Studied formation of stabilized patterns through linear simulations of thin viscous polymer films supported on substrate via electric field application.
PUBLICATIONS
a) A. Modi et al."Direct Immersion Annealing (DIA) of Block Copolymer Thin Films" (submitted)
b) A. Modi et al."Enhanced Vertical Ordering of Block Copolymer Films by Tuning Temper-ature and Molecular Mass" (submitted)
c) A. Modi et al."Mixed solvent strategy for dispersion of PCBM in spin cast PS-b-PEO block copolymer thin films" (in preparation)
d) A. Modi et al."In-situ GISAXS Study of Phase Separation, Ordering and Grain Growth of Block Polymer Thin Films in Direct Immersion Annealing" (in preparation)
e) A. Modi et al."Ordering of Thin Block Polymer Thin Films via Direct Immersion Annealing : In-situ Neutron Reflectivity study" (in preparation)
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
a)A. Modi et al."Direct Immersion Annealing (DIA) of Block Copolymer Thin Films", American Physical Society (APS) Meeting, Denver, CO, March 2014
b) A. Modi et al."Direct Solvent Induced Micro-Phase Separation, Ordering and Nano-Particles Infusion of Block Copolymer Thin Films", American Physical Society (APS) Meeting, Baltimore, MD, March 2013
c) A. Modi et al."Nano-Patterned Block Copolymer Films via Direct Solvent Mixture Annealing", Akron Functional Materials Center (AFMC) Meeting, Akron, OH, 2013
d) A. Mo...
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