Albert Fan Yee

Picture of Albert Fan Yee
Professor, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Professor, Chemistry
School of Physical Sciences
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
B.S., University of California, Berkeley, 1967, Chemistry
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1971, Chemistry
Phone: (949) 824-6963
Fax: (949) 824-2541
Email: afyee@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
816 E Engineering Tower
Mail Code: 2575
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Polymer materials science; plastics; composites; mechanical properties; nanopatterning; nanoimprinting
Academic Distinctions
• Listed in ISI HighlyCited.com in the field of Materials Science
• Fellow, American Physical Society
• Fellow, Polymer Materials Science & Engineering Div., American Chemical Society
• Honorary Professor, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• International Adhesion Society (94 Japan) Award
• Research Excellence Award, College of Engineering, U. of Michigan, 2002
• Honorary Professor, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2001
• Karakash Lecturer, Lehigh University, Sept., 1991
• Invited Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne, 92 - 93
• Visiting Monbushu Professor, Research Inst. for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Japan, 1990-1991.
• Best Paper Award, Div. of Plastics Analysis, Soc. of Plastics Engineers ANTEC 1995, Boston
• Best Paper Award, Div. Rubber Chemistry, ACS, Philadelphia Meeting 1982
Research Abstract
My current research focuses on nanotechnology involving polymer materials, and on the physical and mechanical behavior of polymers and their composites and soft materials.

The research on nanotechnology is motivated by the development of complex micro- and nano-electronic, photonic and biomedical devices, which require the integration of many layers and channels comprised of different materials. A major tool we use is a nanoimprinter that allows us to reproduce features as small as 30 nm using polymers. The group and collaborators at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) in Singapore and at the University of Michigan have developed the reversal imprinting technique which uniquely allows the imprinting of 3-dimensional nanostructures and for imprinting on substrates that are not flat. The substrate may be a silicon wafer, glass, or a polymer film. By using inking techniques that we have also developed, metal films, electrodes, nanospheres, etc., may also be patterned on an imprinted nanostructure. Other nano-sized functional elements such as nanowires may also be grown from these patterns.

The research on physical and mechanical behavior of polymers currently focus on the relaxation and deformation of nanostructures that we have fabricated. Because the size of polymer molecules may actually be larger than these nanostructures, interesting and unexpected relaxation behavior have been observed. The deformation and fracture of polymeric nanostructures are also expected to be quite different from those of bulk materials. These studies will have significant impact on the design and application of polymeric nanostructures to devices. An emerging area of research is to use nanotexturing to control wettability of polymer surfaces and cell adhesion.

A third area of research is a continuation of the work that the group has been engaged in for many years at General Electric and at the University of Michigan: the investigation of failure, fracture and toughening mechanisms of polymers, plastics, and their composites. Excessive deformation and fracture account for the failure of a significant number of products made from plastics. The group has been investigating the mechanisms for failure of plastics and developing strategies for toughening these materials to enhance their resistance to fracture. This research has also included carbon fiber epoxy composites used in the aerospace industry, and nanocomposites comprising nano-sized reinforcement and polymer matrices.
Available Technologies
Publications
157. Sun NJ, Yee AF, Nanovoid Relaxation in a Series of Copolyester Glasses under Cyclic Loading Studied Using a New Technique: Synchronous PALS, accepted for publication in J. Polym Sci B: Polym Phys.
156. Yim EKF, Reano RM, Pang SW, Yee AF, Chen CS, Leong KW, Nanopattern-induced changes in morphology and motility of smooth muscle cells , BIOMATERIALS 26: 5405, 2005
155. Wang K, Chen L, Wu JS, Toh ML, He CB, Yee AF, Epoxy nanocomposites with highly exfoliated clay: Mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms, MACROMOLECULES 38 (3): 788, 2005
154. Kong YP, Low HY, Pang SW, Yee AF, Duo-mold imprinting of three-dimensional polymeric structures, JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B 22 (6): 3251 2004
153. Reano RM, Kong YP, Low HY, Tan L, Wang F, Pang SW, Yee AF, Stability of functional polymers after plasticizer-assisted imprint lithography JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B 22 (6): 3294, 2004
152. Tan L, Kong YP, Pang SW, Yee AF, Imprinting of polymer at low temperature and pressure, JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B 22 (5): 2486, 2004
151. Li XY, Yee AF, Design of mechanically robust high-T-g polymers: Mechanical properties of glassy poly(ester carbonate)s with cyclohexylene rings in the backbone, MACROMOLECULES 37 (19): 7231, 2004
150. Kong YP, Tan L, Pang SW, Yee AF, Stacked polymer patterns imprinted using a soft inkpad, JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A 22 (4): 1873, 2004
149. Choi J, Yee AF, Laine RM, Toughening of cubic silsesquioxane epoxy nanocomposites using core-shell rubber particles: A three-component hybrid system, MACROMOLECULES 37: (9) 3267, 2004
148. Tan L, Kong YP, Bao LR, Huang XD, Guo LJ, Pang SW, Yee AF, Imprinting polymer film on patterned substrates, JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B 21: (6) 2742, 2003
147. Bao LR, Tan L, Huang XD, Kong YP, Guo LJ, Pang SW, Yee AF, Polymer inking as a micro- and nanopatterning technique, JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B 21: (6) 2749, 2003
146. Li XY, Yee AF, Design of mechanically robust high-T-g polymers: Synthesis and dynamic mechanical relaxation behavior of glassy poly(ester carbonate)s with cyclohexylene rings in the backbone, MACROMOLECULES 36: (25) 9411, 2003
145. Li XY, Yee AF, Design of mechanically robust high-T-g polymers: Physical properties of glassy poly(ester carbonate)s with cyclohexylene rings in the backbone, MACROMOLECULES 36: (25), 9421, 2003
144. Lee SS, Yee AF, Temperature-dependent transition of deformation mode in poly(1,4-cyclohexylenedimethylene terephthalate)/poly(ethylene terephthalate) copolymers, MACROMOLECULES 36: (18), 6791, 2003
143. Choi J, Yee AF, Laine RM, Organic/inorganic hybrid composites from cubic silsesquioxanes. Epoxy resins of octa(dimethylsiloxyethylcyclohexylepoxide) silsesquioxane, MACROMOLECULES 36: (15), 5666, 2003
142. Li L, Yee AF, Effect of the scale of local segmental motion on nanovoid growth in polyester copolymer glasses, MACROMOLECULES 36: (8), 2793, 2003
141. Huang XD, Bao LR, Cheng X, Guo LJ, Pang SW, and Yee AF, Reversal imprinting by transferring polymer from mold to substrate, J VAC SCI TECHNOL B 20 (6): 2872, 2002
140. Bao LR, Cheng X, Huang XD, Guo LJ, Pang SW, and Yee AF, Nanoimprinting over topography and multilayer three-dimensional printing, J VAC SCI TECHNOL B 20 (6): 2881, 2002
139. Bao LR, Yee AF, Moisture diffusion and hygrothermal aging in bismaleimide matrix carbon fiber composites - Part I: uni-weave composites, COMPOS SCI TECHNOL 62 (16): 2099, 2002
138. Bao LR, Yee AF, Moisture diffusion and hygrothermal aging in bismaleimide matrix carbon fiber composites: part II - woven and hybrid composites, COMPOS SCI TECHNOL 62 (16): 2111, 2002
137. Bao LR, Yee AF, Effect of temperature on moisture absorption in a bismaleimide resin and its carbon fiber composites, POLYMER 43 (14): 3987, 2002
136. Li L, Yee AF, Effect of linkage groups on motional cooperativity in the secondary relaxations of some glassy polymers, MACROMOLECULES 35 (2): 425, 2002
Last updated
08/25/2007