197Poly The Polymer Age

Physical and organic chemistry of polymers for persons with a basic training in chemistry, physics, or engineering. A survey of preparative methods of polymers; physical chemistry of polymer molecules in solution, liquid, and solid phases; thermodynamics and statistics of polymers; methods of characterization; mechanical properties, fabrication techniques. Prerequisites: one semester of physical chemistry and one semester of organic chemistry. For non-PSE students.

Characterization of polymers by up to fifteen methods, including spectroscopic (nuclear magnetic resonance, Raman, infrared), mechanical (tensile, dynamic mechanical, rheological), microscopic (electron and optical microscopy), physiochemical (intrinsic viscosity, differential scanning, calorimetry, gel permeation chromatography) and scattering (light, x-rays). Molecular simulation techniques introduced. Lectures provide a state-of-the-art description of these and additional polymer characterization methods.

Preparation and characterization of the most important polymer types. Radical, cationic, anionic polymerization; copolymerization; Ziegler-Natta polymerization; step growth polymerization; suspension and emulsion polymerization; group transfer polymerization; metathesis polymerization.

Physical and mathematical principles required to understand and solve engineering problems encountered with polymeric materials. Vector and tensor operations, stress-strain analysis of solids, fluid mechanics, transport equations for mass and energy, nonlinear physical properties, overview of polymer processing.

Polymer structure, classification of polymerization reactions, theory and practice of step growth polymerization, radical polymerization, ionic polymerization, ring-opening polymerization, polymerization by transition metal catalysts.

Review of classical and statistical thermodynamics, configuration and conformation of isolated polymer chains, the rotational isomeric state model, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics of polymer solutions, scaling theory, single chain dynamics, scattering (light, x-ray, neutron).

Invited lectures by visiting academic and industrial scientists. Held regularly on Friday afternoons throughout the academic year. PSE students are required to register and attend.

Methods of structural characterization for important morphological classes of polymers. Overview of scattering physics leading to a discussion of specific techniques such as small and wide angle x-ray and transmission electron microscopy. Polymeric materials surveyed include mesophases, liquid crystalline polymers, polymer blends, block copolymers, and crystalline polymers forming lamellae or spherulites.

Mechanisms, kinetics, and thermodynamics of the principal polymerization reactions. Recent special topics included liquid crystalline polymers, piezoelectric polymers, bioploymers, olefin metathesis polymerization. Prerequisite: PSE 607.

Rubber elasticity, glass transition phenomena, phase separation kinetics, crystallization thermodynamics and kinetics, physics of polymer crystals, description and determination of crystalline and amorphous chain orientation.

Invited lectures by visiting academic and industrial scientists. Held regularly on Friday afternoons throughout the academic year. PSE students are required to register and attend.

Molecular foundations of polymer viscoelasticity. Rouse-Bueche theory, Boltzmann superposition principle, mechanical models, distribution of relaxation and retardation times, interrelationships between mechanical spectra, the glass transition, secondary relaxations, dielectric relaxations.

Techniques for predicting the engineering and physical properties of polymers from their molecular structures. Empirical, semi-empirical, and theoretical methods, with emphasis on the group additivity approach. Properties discussed include refractive index, density, glass transition temperature, modulus, and compatibility.

Effects of microstructure on the mechanics of polymeric media: deformation modes, yield, rubber toughening, alloys and blends, fatigue and fracture of highly filled systems.

Maxwell's equation, wave propagation and dispersion, index of refraction and polarizability, absorption and the "Golden Rule," introduction to nonlinear optics, scattering.

Discussion of theoretical and experimental methods providing insight into polymer interfacial phenomena. Theoretical: surface dynamics, Gibbs isotherm, gradient-square theory of interfaces, wetting. Experimental: IR, optical, neutron, and x-ray reflectivity; contact angle; surface tensiometry; scanning probe microscopy (atomic force, scanning tunnel); electron probes (ESCA, EELS).

Engineering principles applied to the analysis and design of polymerization processes. Mathematical modeling of polymerization kinetics, ideal polymerization reactors, heat and mass transfer, reactor dynamics and optimization, mixing effects. Case studies of important industrial processes.

Infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Concepts and algorithms of normal mode analysis, symmetry analysis, Fermi resonance interactions, defect-induced vibrational transitions, polarization phenomena, surface characterization.

Structure, function, and physical properties of naturally-occurring polymers, including proteins, polysaccharides, polyesters, and DNA. Methods of characterization (nuclear magnetic resonance, electron spin resonance, circular dichroism, centrifugation, electrophoresis, chemical modification), polymer chemistry of biological processes (visual transduction, synaptic transmission, ion transport, chemical recognition).

Classical and modern developments in colloid science. Colloid preparation, Brownian motion, surface forces, particle-particle interactions (flocculation and stabilization), thermodynamics, electrokinetic effects, mechanical properties. Prerequisite: one semester of undergraduate physical chemistry.

Definition and measurement of the material functions of complex fluids, continuum mechanics of stress and deformation, constitutive equations derived from both continuum and molecular theories, interrelation of material functions for both shear and elongational flows, linear and nonlinear elasticity and viscoelasticity, material functions of important classes of polymeric fluids, the role of rheological properties in material characterization and polymer processing. Prerequisite: PSE 604 or equivalent background in fluid mechanics.

Application of engineering principles to the analysis of polymer processes such as extrusion, roll coating, mixing, etc. Applied fluid dynamics with attention to heat and mass transfer. Prerequisite: PSE 604 and 757.

Behavior of composite materials from both microstructural and continuum modeling perspectives. Methods of computing average properties discussed and compared with experimental data. Review of anisotropic linear elasticity and the failure criterion of anisotropic materials

Large-scale industrial processes, industrial research and development, defining a research project, ethics in science, leadership skills, teamwork, management skills, and polymers in today's society.

Modern pulsed FT NMR spectroscopy, including two-dimensional methods and CP-MAS spectroscopy. Hands-on operation of instruments.

Lecture series by visiting industrial scientists focused on the important materials and technologies of the polymer industry. Topics surveyed in the recent series were water-soluble polymers, polymers for nonlinear optics, polymers in photoimaging, engineering plastics, polymer composites, intellectual property rights, and fibers.

Random walks, fractals, scaling, perturbation and renormalization group theories, phase diagrams, spinodal decomposition, liquid crystallinity, gelation, and percolation.