Widener

Dr. Ismail Kul

Associate Professor

email: ikul@mail.widener.edu

office location: Kirkbride 466C
office phone: (610) 499-4028
fax: (610) 499-4496

B.Sc., Ege University, Izmir in Turkey
M.Sc., Clemson University
Ph.D., Clemson University  

Courses Taught: Physical Chemistry I and II, Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Fundamentals of Chemistry, Fundamentals of Chemistry Lab

Research Interest: My current research interests are measurement and estimation of thermodynamic properties of alternative refrigerants that protect the stratospheric ozone layer, and percolation limits of partially hydrogenated pure compounds and their mixtures that may be served as potential replacements to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrocholorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

The thermodynamic investigations for alternative refrigerants include both synthesis of novel compounds and physical property measurements such as vapor pressure, critical properties, liquid density and liquid phase heat capacity. Physical properties such as vapor phase thermal conductivity, ideal gas heat capacity and vapor density have been estimated. Good thermodynamic performance must be balanced with acceptable flammability limits. The lower flammability limit is defined as the lowest concentration that supports flammability in air under a total pressure of 1 atm. This may regarded as a percolation phenomena in which the flammability limit is identified with the percolation limit. The scaling size of the flammability limits is studied using directed percolation and the measurements are done using the ASTM-34 method.

The estimation and measurement of physical properties of these compounds and their mixtures offer a number of interesting challenges in classical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.