INTRODUCTION TO POLYMERS PROCESSING

ME 310

Introduction to all important aspects of polymer processing and engineering including polymeric materials, material properties, design and manufacturing considerations, processing methods, part performance, post-consumer recycling and upcycling, societal responsibilities and ethics, and various techniques for modeling in materials processing like dimensional analysis, design of experiments, analytical solutions, and computer simulation.

ME 718

This course is designed to acquaint the student with computer simulation technology used for the engineering of polymer processes. Knowledge of polymer processing [such asM E 417] strongly encouraged.

EPD 636

Introduction to the chemistry and physics of polymeric materials. Concepts of polymer synthesis as well as physical properties are introduced, including molecular weight, chain conformation, step growth and chain growth kinetics, basic rheology and viscoelasticity as well as glass transition and crystallinity.

ME 417

Description of the physical, thermal, mechanical, and rheological properties of polymeric materials relevant to their processing behavior. Review of the basic transport phenomena equations: mass, momentum, and energy. Analysis of various processing operations for the manufacture of polymeric articles, with particular emphasis on: extrusion, injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming, compression molding and additive manufacturing. Discussion of plastics recycling and environmental issues.

EPD 640

Introduction to polymer rheology. Concepts of continuum mechanics are introduced, specifically the fluid dynamics of non-Newtonian and linear viscoelastic fluids. Material functions, constitutive equations and rheometry and experimental methods for measuring material functions (rheometry) are discussed. Knowledge of linear differential equations [such asMATH 319or320] and fluid mechanics [such asM E 363] or momentum transfer [such asCBE 320] required.