We’re happy to reintroduce ourselves under a new name, Team MaeChem Silanes! The inspiration for the name came from the combination of engineering disciplines involved in this project: MAE is the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering for the mechanical engineers, and Chem represents the Chemical Engineers on the team. Our name also ties in directly to our team logo. The structure is inspired by the skeletal line structure of VTMS and is shown using pipes, while the central Silicon molecule is represented by a gear. The font/color of the team name is also a nod to Milliken’s own logo!

This week we officially met with our liaison at Milliken virtually where we discussed the project in great detail, learned more about Milliken and its role in the semiconductor industry, and received more documentation to help in our design. We are planning to travel to Milliken’s SiVance plant in Gainesville next week to do a walkthrough of their facilities and see the batch process currently in use. Before we meet with Milliken again, the group is doing research on continuous processes and the chemistry involved with producing VTMS so we can ensure our ideas for the project align with our sponsor’s.

We can’t wait to visit Milliken’s facilities in person, and are looking forward to beginning our preliminary designs for this project!