Physical and Mechanical Properties of Polymers

Physical and mechanical properties of polymers outlines the foundation and general mechanical behavior of polymers. The mechanical properties may be considered the most important properties of polymers for most applications. There are many structural factors such as molecular weight, cross-linking and branching, crystallinity, copolymerization, plasticization that determine the nature of the mechanical behavior of polymers. One of the primary aims of this course is to show how the structural factors, affect all of the major mechanical properties.

In addition to the structural and molecular factors, the environmental or external variables such as temperature, rate of stressing or straining, pressure, heat treatment are important in determining mechanical behavior.

 This course is designed to:

• Broaden the knowledge of students about polymers, their application, and their mechanical properties.
• Study the yield behavior and breaking phenomena of polymers
• Study the viscoelastic behavior of polymers
• Investigate the effect of structural, molecular and external variable on mechanical behavior of polymers.