COURSE: 09201 POLYMER GELS AND NETWORKS

TIME: TUESDAY 10.00-13.00

PLACE: PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LIBRARY

1. INTRODUCTION (definitions, review of thermodynamics, chain configuration, polymer solution thermodynamics, history of crosslinked materials, some crosslinked materials, applications of crosslinked materials)
2. PREPARATION AND STRUCTURE OF POLYMER NETWORKS (physical and chemical gels, gel formation starting from polymer chains, from monomers, special techniques for the synthesis of tailor-made networks, microgels, crosslink density, non-idealities in gels)
3. CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYMER NETWORKS AND GELS (macroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques: gel fraction, swelling, elasticity, light scattering techniques)
4. MEAN-FIELD AND NON-MEAN-FIELD THEORIES OF GEL FORMATION AND GEL GROWTH (gel point and gel fraction, Flory-Stockmayer theory, kinetic gelation models, Monte-Carlo simulations, critical exponents for gel formation)
5. STATISTICAL THEORY OF RUBBER ELASTICITY (affine and phantom network models, elastic equations of state)
6. SWELLING OF GELS (Flory-Rehner theory of swelling equilibrium, ionic gels, swelling in multicomponent systems)
7. PHASE TRANSITIONS IN GELS (theory and review of experimental works)

TEXT BOOK: PJ FLORY PRINCIPLES OF POLYMER CHEMISTRY

Prerequisite: Physical Chemistry and Thermodynamics

-Weight of the Course Work:

Homework: 10%

Mid-Term: 30%

Final: 60%

-Attendance is Mandatory