Stephen Beaudoin
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Director, Purdue Energetics Research Center
Purdue University
Davidson School of Chemical Engineering
Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering
480 Stadium Mall Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2100
Research Interests
Adhesion/Cohesion in Systems involving Energetic Materials Composites and Solid Surfaces
Research Objectives
- Measure and model the adhesion between residues of explosives compounds and surfaces of interest in Homeland Security environments
- Use understanding to develop improved methods for detecting explosives residues
Overview
Understanding the adhesion between energetic particles and binders, and between explosive formulations and surfaces, is essentially important to making improved munitions and to detecting and interdicting improvised explosive devices. Poor adhesion within formulated explosives leads to local hot spot formation and can result in deflagration or detonation. Depending on the interaction force between an explosive residue, a surface, and a detection trap, the effectiveness of contact sampling to detect trace explosives in air transportation environments may vary dramatically. We perform basic studies of surface energy, adhesion forces, deformation, removal forces, and responses of explosive surfaces to various insults in order to fully characterize the adhesion in these systems.
Polymer Adsorption onto Crystals
Research Objectives
- Measure the conformation of polymers adsorbed to crystalline drug surfaces using atomic force microscopy (AFM)
- Relate the polymer conformation to changes in crystal growth and dissolution rates
Overview
About 75% of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the drug development pipeline demonstrate poor aqueous solubility in crystalline solid form. This poses a problem in oral dosage forms due to low bioavailability. Amorphous solid forms, however, possess much greater free energy and are correspondingly much more soluble. One approach to stabilize the inherently unstable amorphous form and prevent crystallization utilizes adsorbed polymers to occupy growth sites and serve as mechanical barriers to growth. The effectiveness of this method depends critically on the conformation of the polymer once it is adsorbed onto the solid drug. For example, if the polymer chain is extended, a single adsorbed molecule can block multiple sites in addition to its adsorption site; however, a coiled polymer has limited ability to block multiple sites. Using AFM, we are studying the conformation of adsorbed polymers and relate this parameter to crystal growth kinetics.
Enhanced Centrifuge-Based Approach to Powder Characterization
Research Objective
- Develop improved centrifuge-based technique for advanced powder characterization.
Overview
Powder behavior during solids handling, such as in the pharmaceutical, food, and personal care industries, is controlled to a large degree by the adhesion characteristics of the powder's particulate ensemble. Key physical properties of a particulate system, chiefly size, geometry, composition, and surface roughness, generally control the particle adhesion. A classic method for measuring powder adhesion involves coating metal plates with powder, mounting these plates in centrifuge tubes so that their coated surfaces face outward, and then tracking the removal of particles from the plates when the centrifuge is rotated. While the technique is simple to use, it gives low-quality information about the powder adhesion characteristics. Our work pursues the use of rationally-designed plates in the centrifuge method. By tracking the removal of small quantities of powder from these plates, we are able to extract a great deal of high-value added information about the particle adhesion. Specifically, substrates designed with hemispherical indentations of different sizes and roughness allow us to characterize the size, shape, roughness, and composition of the particles in the powder.
This work is supported by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, and the Department of Education.
Research Group
Graduate Students
- Pat Bowers, MS expected May (2021) Purdue University (co-advised with J. Rhoads)
- Sebastian Yocca, MS expected May (2022) Purdue University (co-advised with D. Piercey)
- Caralyn Stevenson, PhD expected May (2022) Purdue University
- Michael Stevenson, PhD expected May (2022) Purdue University (co-advised with D. Corti)
- Sydney Scheirey, PhD expected May (2023) Purdue University (co-advised with J. Rhoads)
- Anne Serban, PhD expected May (2024) Purdue University (co-advised with C. Davis)
- Jiselle Thornby, PhD expected May (2024) Purdue University (co-advised with J. Rhoads)
- Anusha Sivaram, PhD expected May (2024) Purdue University (co-advised with S. Singh)
- Max Roux, PhD expected May (2024) Purdue University (co-advised with D. Piercey)
Former Lab Members
- Jason Wickham, PhD May (2021) Purdue University (co-advised with S. Son), presently employed at Battelle
- Andrew Parker, PhD May (2021) Purdue University, presently employed at Merck
- Jennifer Laster, PhD December (2017), Purdue University, presently employed at Intel
- Darby Hoss, PhD August (2017) Purdue University, presently employed at Intel
- Sean Fronczak, PhD August (2017) Purdue University, presently employed at Insight Data Science
- Caitlin Schram, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2015, Purdue University), presently employed at Vertex Pharmaceuticals
- Melissa Sweat, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2015, Purdue University), presently employed at Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
- Aaron Harrison, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2015, Purdue University), presently employed at Microsoft
- Myles Thomas, PhD in Chemical Engineering August (2015, Purdue University), presently employed at Pfizer
- Kathryn Smith, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2014, Purdue University), retired
- Nyah Zarate, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2013, Purdue University), presently employed at Continuous Solutions
- Michelle Cipich, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2013, Purdue University), presently employed at Michelle Cipich Photography
- Dave Balachandran, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2011, Purdue University), presently employed by Inline Plastics Corp
- Megan Farrell, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2009, Purdue University), presently employed at Intel
- Kyung Min Lee, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2009, Purdue University), presently employed at LG Chemical
- Bich-Van Pham, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2009, Purdue University), presently employed at Frito Lay
- Caitlin Kilroy, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2009, Purdue University), presently employed at Intel
- Shanna Smith, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2008, Purdue University), presently employed as post-doctoral researcher at City of Hope Cancer Center
- Ravi Jaiswal, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2008, Purdue University), presently employed at IIT-BHU Varanasi
- Bum Soo Kim, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2008, Purdue University), presently employed at Intel
- Gautam Kumar, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2007, Purdue University), presently employed at Intel
- Vladimir Noveski, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2004, Arizona State Univ.), presently employed at Apple
- Sean Eichenlaub, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2003, Arizona State Univ.), presently employed at Frito Lay
- Kristin Beaumont (Pruden), PhD in Chemical Engineering (2003, Arizona State Univ.), presently Assistant Professor, Icahn School of Medicine, Mt. Sinai, NY.
- Gretchen Burdick, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2003, Arizona State Univ.), presently employed at Fluor Marine Propulsion
- Danilo Castillo-Mejia, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2002, Arizona State Univ.), presently employed at Intel
- Russell Callahan, PhD in Chemical Engineering (2002, Arizona State Univ.), presently employed at NVIDIA
- Kevin Cooper, PhD in Chemical Engineering, (2002, Arizona State Univ.), presently employed at Indian River State College
Awards and Honors
Selected Publications
Wickham, J., Beaudoin, S., Son, S., "The Role of Adhesion and Binder Stiffness in the Impact Sensitivity of Cast Composite Energetic Materials", Journal of Applied Physics, 28, 214902-214906 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0030900.
Moseson, D., Parker, A., Beaudoin, S., Taylor, L., "Amorphous solid dispersions containing residual crystallinity: Influence of seed properties and polymer adsorption on dissolution performance", European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 105276 (2020).
Parker, A., Taylor, L., Beaudoin, S., "The role of surface energy heterogeneity on crystal morphology during solid-state crystallization at the amorphous atazanavir-water interface", Crystal Engineering Communications, 22(18), 3179-3187 (2020).
Stevenson, M., Beaudoin, S., Corti, D., "Towards an Improved Method for Determining the Hamaker Constant of Solid Materials Using Atomic Force Microscopy. I. Quasi-Static Analysis for Arbitrary Surface Roughness", The Journal of Physical Chemistry Part C: Energy Conversion and Storage; Catalysis; Optical, Electronic, and Magnetic Properties and Processes; Interfaces; Nanomaterials and Hybrid Materials, C: Surfaces, Interfaces, Porous Materials, and Catalysis, 124(5), 3014-3027 (2020).
Moseson, D., Parker, A., Gilpin, C., Stewart, A., Beaudoin, S., Taylor, L., "Dissolution of indomethacin crystals into a polymer melt: Role of diffusion and fragmentation", Crystal Growth & Design, 19(6), 3315-3328 (2019).
Jaiswal, R., Beaudoin, S., "London-van der Waals Force Field of a Chemically Patterned Surface to Enable Selective Adhesion", Langmuir, 35(1), 86-94 (2019).
Mosquera-Giraldo,L., Borca, C., Parker, A., Dong, Y., Edgar, K., Beaudoin, S., Slipchenko, L., Taylor, L., "Crystallization inhibition properties of cellulose esters and ethers for a group of chemically diverse drugs: experimental and computational insight", Biomacromolecules, 19(12), 4593-4606 (2018).
Hoss, D., Mukherjee, S., Boudouris, B., Beaudoin, S., "Energetic Microparticle Adhesion to Functionalized Surfaces", Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics, 43, 1-8 (2018).
Fronczak, S., Thorpe, J., Thomas, M., Cassidy, M., Evans, J., Beaudoin, S., "The number of measurements of a surface's topography and the expected variation in adhesion to the surface", Journal of Adhesion Science and Technology, 32(19), 2099-2110 (2018).
Laster, J., Ezeamaku, C., Beaudoin, S., Boudouris, B., "Impact of Surface Chemistry on the Adhesion of an Energetic Small Molecule to a Conducting Polymer Surface", Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 551, 74-80 (2018).
Fronczak, S., Browne, C., Krenek, E., Corti, D., Beaudoin, S., "Non-Contact AFM Measurement of the Hamaker Constants of Solids: Calibrating Cantilever Geometries", Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 517, 213-220 (2018).
Hoss, D., Boudouris, B., Beaudoin, S., "Analyzing Adhesion in Microstructured Systems through a Robust Computational Approach", Surface and Interface Analysis, 49(11), 1165-1170 (2017).
Sweat, M.L., Parker, A.S., Beaudoin, S.P., "Compressive Behavior of High Viscosity Granular Systems: Effect of Particle Size Distribution", Powder Technology, 311, 506-513 (2017).
Fronczak, S., Dong, J., Browne, C., Krenek, E., Franses, E., Beaudoin, S. Corti, D., "A New "Quasi-Dynamic" Method for Determining the Hamaker Constant of Solids Using an Atomic Force Microscope", Langmuir, 33(3), 714-725 (2017).
Thomas, M., and Beaudoin, S., "An Enhanced Centrifuge-Based Approach to Powder Characterization: Experimental and Theoretical Determination of a Size-Dependent Effective Hamaker Constant", Powder Technology, 306, 96-102 (2017).
Sweat, M.L., Parker, A.S., Beaudoin, S.P., "Compressive Behaviour of Idealized Granules for the Simulation of Composition C-4", Propellants, Explosives, and Pyrotechnics, 41(5), 855-863 (2016) DOI: 10.1002/pr ep.201600036.
Laster, J., Deom, N., Beaudoin, S., and Boudouris, B., "Design of Free-Standing Microstructured Conducting Polymer Films for Enhanced Particle Removal from Non-Uniform Surfaces", Journal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics, 54(19), 1968-1974 (2016).
Schram, C., Beaudoin, S., and Taylor, L., "Polymer Inhibition of Crystal Growth by Surface Poisoning", Crystal Growth and Design, 16(4), 2094-2103 (2016).
Sweat, M., Parker, A., and Beaudoin, S., "Compressive Behavior of High Viscosity Granular Systems: Effects of Viscosity and Strain Rate", Powder Technology, 302, 480-487 (2016).
Hoss, D. J., Knepper, R., Hotchkiss, P. J., Tappan, A. S., Boudouris, B. W., and Beaudoin, S. P., "An Evaluation of Complementary Approaches to Elucidate Fundamental Interfacial Phenomena Driving Adhesion of Energetic Materials", Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 473, 28-33 (2016).
Chaffee-Cipich, M, Hoss, D., Sweat, M., and Beaudoin, S., "Contact between Traps and Surfaces during Contact Sampling of Explosives in Security Settings", Forensic Science International, 260, 85-94 (2016).
Harrison, A., Beaudoin, S., and Corti, D., "Wang-Landau Monte Carlo Simulation of Capillary Forces at Low Relative Humidity in Atomic Force Microscopy", Adhesion Science and Technology, 30(11), 1165-1177 (2016).
Schram, C., Taylor, L., and Beaudoin, S., "Understanding Crystal Growth Kinetics in the Absence and Presence of a Polymer Using a Rotating Disk Apparatus", Crystal Growth and Design, 16(5), 2640-2645 (2016).