Educational guide 2019_20 School of Chemical Engineering

Contents

Topic	Sub-topic
1. Introduction	What are the polymers. The polymers in the world. Brief history
2. Morphology	Bonds and forces. Individual molecules. Cohesive energy, Physical states, Transition temperatures, Crystallisation, Structure-properties relations
3. Thermodynamics of polymer solutions	Non-ideality of polymer solutions; the Flory-Huggins theory. Chemical potential and osmotic pressure. Swell of a chain by solvent. Rubber elasticity. Solubility. Phase equilibria.
4. Polymerisation	Reactions of polymerisation. Functionality. Kinetic schemes. Chain polymerisation. Step polymerisation. Polymerisation processes. Copolimerización.
5. Molecular weight distributions	Mean values of the molecular weight. Theoretical molecular weight distributions. Empirical molecular weight distributions. Experimental methods to analyse the molecular weight.
6. Viscoelasticity	Mechanical behaviour of the polymeric materials. viscous solids and elastic liquids. Models for the viscoelastic behaviour. Molecular motions and transition temperatures.
7. Rheology	Characteristics of non-Newtonian flow. Dependence of the viscosity with the shear rate. Dependence of the viscosity with the molecular weight. Dependence of the viscosity with the temperature. Normal stresses.