MS4621: Selected Topics on Applied Polymer Materials

Academic Units2
Semester1
Pre-requisite(s)Nil
Co-requisite(s)Nil

Course Instructors

Dr Rui Goncalves

Course AIMS

This is an advanced-level polymer course. The objectives are to provide Materials Engineering students with specialized knowledge on commonly used engineering polymers and polymerization techniques, and train them how to select suitable polymers for different engineering and functional applications.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you (as a student) would be able to:

  1. differentiate elastomers, thermoplastics & thermosets based on their chemical structures, mechanical properties and processability;
  2. identify key structural factors affecting properties of elastomers, thermosets, rigid-chain polymers and rubber -toughened  polymer systems, respectively;
  3. explain structure-property relationships for the engineering and functional polymers covered in this course;
  4. select suitable polymers for common engineering applications based on the structures of the polymers;
  5. select polymerisation techniques to obtain polymer products with desired features.

Course Content

  1.  Overview of polymer structures and structure-property relationships
  2.  Elastomeric network polymers: rubber elasticity theory, structures and properties of typical rubbers and thermoplastic elastomers, application issues including stress relaxation caused by Thirion relaxation & bond exchange, combined effects of temperature and frequency on properties
  3. Rigid thermosetting polymers: structures and properties of epoxy resins including cure reactions, effects of cure and vitrification on properties, concept of vitrimers, structures and properties of unsaturated polyesters and their unique features
  4. Rubber-toughened & ultratough polymers: rubber-toughening mechanisms, rubber-toughened plastics including HIPS, ABS  and rubber particle -toughened PMMA, particle-toughend epoxy resins , structures and properties of ultratough UHMWPE  and its application issues
  5. Rigid -chain polymers: structures and properties of aromatic polyimides, hyperbranched polyimides, definitions of liquid crystalline phases, classification of liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs), structures and properties of typical thermotropic and lyotropic LCPs
  6. Common polymerization techniques: conventional bulk polymerization, UV-induced stereolithography, suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization  and the mechanism, solution polymerization
  7. CA1 and feedback
  8. Introduction to functional polymers : student group projects & presentations

Reading and References

  • Joel R. Fried, Polymer Science and Technology, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2014.
  • Brydson's Plastics Materials, 8th Edition, edited by Marianne Gilbert, Elsevier Ltd., 2017.
  • Anil Kumar, Rakesh K. Gupta, Fundamentals of Polymer Engineering, 3rd Edition, CRC press, 2018.