Introduction to polymers
Learn about the properties and manufacturing techniques of polymers in this free course. Discover how molecular structure affects polymer selection for specific products. Gain knowledge on design features, exploiting polymeric materials, rubber-toughening, and identifying repeat units. Estimate molecular masses based on polymerization and chain mass fraction.
This free course, Introduction to polymers, examines the use of polymers and demonstrates how their properties are controlled by their molecular structure. You will learn how this structure determines which polymer to use for a particular product. You will also explore the manufacturing techniques used and the how the use of polymerisation can be used to control the structure of polymers.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
Isolate the key design features of a product which relate directly to the material(s) used in its construction
Indicate how the properties of polymeric materials can be exploited by a product designer
Describe the role of rubber-toughening in improving the mechanical properties of polymers
Identify the repeat units of particular polymers and specify the isomeric structures which can exist for those repeat units
Estimate the number- and weight-average molecular masses of polymer samples given the degree of polymerisation and mass fraction of chains present.