Undergraduate Course: Polymer Science and Engineering 5 (CHEE11015)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Chemical |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course gives an introduction to polymer science and engineering, covering the properties of polymers, polymer reactions and reactors, and polymer forming processes. The first 14 lectures are taught jointly with MECE10009 Polymers and Composite Materials 4, and the remainder of the course, on polymer reaction engineering, is covered by independent study guided by seminars and tutorials. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2011/12 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
| Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
| King's Buildings | Lecture | | 1-11 | 14:00 - 14:50 | | | | | | King's Buildings | Tutorial | | 1-11 | | 11:10 - 12:00 | | | | | King's Buildings | Lecture | | 1-11 | | | | | 11:10 - 12:00 |
| First Class |
Week 18, Monday, 14:00 - 14:50, Zone: King's Buildings. JCMB LTC |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, the student should be able to:
1. Explain the relationship between polymer properties (thermal, rheological, mechanical), and polymer microstructure and molecular weight.
2. Relate polymer properties to their processing and uses.
3. Explain methods for determining the microstructure and molecular weight of polymers and describe the significance of polymer solubility, melting point and glass transition temperature.
4. Describe different types of polymerisation process, and the significance in each of: initiation, propagation, termination, branching; and, for copolymerisation, reactivity ratios and monomer ratio.
5. Calculate average molecular weights of polymers knowing the conversion and/or other reaction conditions.
6. Calculate the ratio of monomer types in copolymerisation and predict the type of sequence obtained.
7. Determine the data required for the design of polymerisation reactors of a variety of types: batch, plug-flow, CSTR, heterogeneous (emulsion, fluidised bed), and predict the mean residence time and size of reactor for simplified cases.
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Assessment Information
2 hour written examination.
This course is assessed by means of a single two-hour written examination, comprising three compulsory questions. The first two, worth 30 marks each, are intended to test competence in the subject and may be similar to tutorial questions or worked examples in the lectures. The third question, on the reactors section of the course and worth 40 marks, is intended to test mastery of the subject matter and will therefore be more challenging.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1. Introduction to polymers: Overview of applications
2. Polymer classification and terminology. Overview of properties
3. &«The product as process&ª.
4. Colligative properties: measurement and characterisation of molecular weight distribution. Diffusion and other transport properties.
5. Solubility and phase behaviour of common polymers.
6. Polymer thermal properties and microstructure: melting point and glass transition temperature.
7. Rheological measurements of polymer melts. Interpretation of results. Power law model of rheometer flow.
8. Flow phenomena: tensile viscosity, viscoelastic effects and spring-and-dashpot models, die-swell, flow instabilities.
9. Flow of Newtonian fluid in a tapered die. Comparison of creeping flow approximation with observed melt behaviour. Effects resulting from non-Newtonian character of polymer melts.
10. Elasticity, stress-strain behaviour, creep: significance for moulding and forming processes; and for service life of plastics.
11. Engineering properties of rubber. Failure modes of polymers. Polymer composites.
12. Environmental considerations. Polymer degradation and biodegradability.
13. Flow-forming processes for traditional materials: casting, moulding, pressing, extrusion.
14. Melt forming: the single-screw extruder. Heat transfer considerations. Newtonian flow model.
15. Making polymers: polymerisation mechanisms, free radical chain reactions; condensation polymerisation; coordination (Zeigler) polymerisation. (2 seminars)
16. Polymer reaction engineering. Objectives of reactor design: batch, plugflow, CSTR. Batch Fed Reactor polymerisation. Order of reaction.
17. Reactions in a CSTR; heat balance, polymer chain length.
18. Copolymerisation: effect of monomer ratio.
19. Segregated flow reactors: fluidised bed process for LLDPE. Oil-drop polymerisation. Development of polymerisation processes.
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
1. McCrum, Buckley, Bucknall, &«Principles of Polymer Engineering&ª, Oxford Science, 2nd edition 1997
2. Osswald and Menges, &«Materials Science of Polymers for Engineers&ª, Hanser, 2nd edition 2003
3. Powell & Jan Ingen Housz, &«Engineering with Polymers&ª, Stanley Thornes, 2nd edition 1998
4. Fried, &«Polymer Science and Technology&ª, Prentice-Hall, 2nd edition 2003
5. Birley Haworth, Batchelor, &«Physics of Plastics: Processing, Properties and Materials Engineering&ª, Hanser, 1992
6. Ebewele, &«Polymer Science and Technology&ª, CRC Press, 2000
7. Painter & Coleman, &«Fundamentals of Polymer Science&ª, Technomic, 2nd edition 1997
8. Ehrenstein, &«Polymeric Materials&ª, Hanser, 2001
9. Rudin, &«The Elements of Polymer Science and Engineering&ª, Academic Press, 2nd edition, 1998
10. Billmeyer, &«Textbook of Polymer Science&ª, Wiley, 3rd edition, 1984
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr John Christy
Tel: (0131 6)50 4854
Email: J.Christy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Kim Orsi
Tel: (0131 6)50 5687
Email: Kim.Orsi@ed.ac.uk |
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