This course introduces the microstructure-property-processing relationships needed to understand the applicability of polymers to engineering design. After reviewing the molecular chemistry of polymers, the continuum concepts of applied elasticity will be modified for pressure-dependent polymers to generate yield and fracture loci in stress space. Constitutive relations describing the time-temperature dependence of polymeric mechanical properties will be developed and correlated to the thermally activated deformation response of molecular aggregates comprising the microstructure. Computer algorithms to interpolate and extrapolate measured stress-strain curves will be used to predict Ashby maps. Finally, the role of processing on the alignment of the molecular structure and its susceptibility to physical ageing will be analyzed in terms of thermodynamic models. (0/8/0/16/18)~ COURSE DELETED IN 2008/09 ~ PREREQUISITES:
