FUNDAMENTALS OF POLYMER CHEMISTRY

Object of the course
Polymeric materials are one of the most advanced fields of research in chemistry. Polymer science is an highly multidisciplinary field, spanning from organic chemistry to mechanical engineering, which cannot be treated extensively in a single course. Object of the present course is the general introduction to the field of polymer chemistry.
Introductory concepts
Defnitions and nomenclature; average molecular weight; isomerism and stereoisomerism; main classes of polymers, thermodynamic conditions for polymerization.
Polymer synthesis
Step-growth polymerization: statistical treatment, theory of gelation.
Free radical polymerization, ininc and coordination polymerization.
Polymerization processes
Copolymers
Structure of polymers
Conformations and configurations of polymer chains, polymer morphology.
Crystallization, melting and glass transition.
Polymer characterization
Methods for the determination of the average molecular weight, spectroscopic methods for structural analysis.
Mechanical and reological properties
Introduction to viscoelasticity, mechanical and theoretical models of viscoelastic behaviour.