2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Undergraduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
Organic Materials Laboratory III
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Junko Morikawa / Syuichi Akasaka / Minoru Ashizawa / Takashi Iwahashi / Tadashi Kawamoto / Keiichi Kuboyama / Shun Omagari / Massimilia Zamengo / Atsushi Isobe / Kan Hatakeyama
- Class Format
- Experiment
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Class
- -
- Course Code
- MAT.P352
- Number of credits
- 002
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Apr 3, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Understanding the principle of experiments and the obtained meanings of the properties by the experiments is essential in material science and engineering. The learning of fundamental skills of chemical and physical measurement operation is required for the correct and safe experiments. In this experiment course, the following topics will be covered: basic skills for suspension polymerization, characterization technique for ion exchange resin and basic skills for kinetic study; synthesize method of functional polymers; measure the characteristics of PLLA with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), understand the principles of those measurements, discuss the relationship between the micro-structure and thermal and mechanical (temperature- and frequency-dependence) characteristics; handling and evaluation of biomacropolecules (DNA, enzyme and polymer gel).
The aims of this course are to make students get the basics for organic and polymeric materials through the learning of experimental operations, principles and comparison between the theoretical and experimental data, in order to improve their skills and understandings from the viewpoints of general education covering the wide area from the basics to the advanced research of science and engineering.
Additionally, the number of students may be restricted due to the limitation of a laboratory space. The learning quarters and orders could be also changed. Students can learn whole themes in Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials I, II and III in a different order, by taking all courses of Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials at 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters.
Course description and aims
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. acquire fundamental skills of chemical and physical measurement operations,
2. understand the chemical reactions and analysis,
3. understand the meanings of measured properties and their principles,
4. understand the relation between the conditions of sample preparation and their properties,
5. understand the experimental methods, data analysis and discussion based on obtained data,
and learning the basics for more advanced experiments.
Keywords
Organic and polymeric materials, material engineering, experiment, operation of chemical experiment, analysis method, property measurement, numerical calculation
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Students work in teams throughout this course and conduct a series of experimental themes. The learning quarters and orders could be also changed. Students can learn whole themes in Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials I, II and III in a different order, by taking all courses of Experiments of Organic and Polymeric Materials at 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters. Written reports must be submitted by designated dates. Students must read the experiment textbook before the start of each experiment to ensure safety and smooth running.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | General Guidance | Explanation of precautions, grouping, schedule, reports, etc. for the experiment. |
| Class 2 | Basic skills for polymer synthesis (4 sessions) 1: Vacuum distillation of styrene | Perform vacuum distillation of styrene, which will be used as a monomer for polystyrene. |
| Class 3 | Basic skills for polymer synthesis 2: Suspension polymerization of styrene | Perform the suspension polymerization of styrene to prepare polystyrene beads. |
| Class 4 | Basic skills for polymer synthesis 3: Synthesis of polyimide | Obtain poly(amic acid) by a solution polymerization of pyromellitic dianhydride and 4,4'-oxydianiline. The solution of poly(amic acid) is casted onto a glass plate and a polyimide film is obtained by vacuum heating. |
| Class 5 | Basic skills for polymer synthesis 4: Characterization of polyimide and polystyrene | Pefrom thermogravietry, FT-IR and viscometry for the polystyrene and polyimide. The dehydration reaction of poly(amic acid) and thermal stability will be discussed. |
| Class 6 | Micro-structures and properties of poly-L-lactide (PLLA) (4 sessions) 1: Thermal characteristics by differential scanning calorimetry of PLLA | Measurement of the characteristics of PLLA with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Understanding of the principles of those measurements. Discussion of the relationship between the micro-structure and thermal and mechanical (temperature- and frequency-dependence) characteristics. day 1: Measurement of the thermal characteristics by DSC of PLLA |
| Class 7 | Micro-structures and properties of PLLA (2/4) 2: Microstructure analysis by wide-angle X-ray diffraction of PLLA | Day 2: Microstructure analysis by wide-angle X-ray diffraction of PLLA |
| Class 8 | Micro-structures and properties of PLLA (3/4) 3: Temperature and frequency dependence of viscoelasticity of PLLA | Day 3: Measurement of temperature and frequency dependence of viscoelasticity of PLLA |
| Class 9 | Micro-structures and properties of PLLA (4/4) 4: Thermal and mechanical properties of PLLA/PDLA stereo complex | Day 4: Measurement of thermal and mechanical properties of PLLA/PDLA stereo complex |
| Class 10 | Biomacromolecules (4 sessions) Introduction and preparation | TBA |
| Class 11 | Biomacromolecules (2/4) DNA | TBA |
| Class 12 | Biomacromolecules (3/4) Enzyme | TBA |
| Class 13 | Biomacromolecules (4/4) Polymer gel | TBA |
| Class 14 | Safety education | Learn about safety precautions in conducting research in a laboratory. -Chemicals -Electricity -Machinery |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 50 minutes preparing for class and another 50 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course materials.
Textbook(s)
Course texts are provided during class.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Course texts are provided during class.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Full attendance and completion of all experiments are compulsory. Assessment is based on the quality of the written reports and on the status of submission thereof. Students may fail the course if they repeatedly come late to classes or often delay the submission of reports.
Related courses
- MAT.P350 ： Organic Materials Laboratory I
- MAT.P351 ： Organic Materials Laboratory II
- MAT.A250 ： Materials Science Laboratory I
- MAT.A251 ： Materials Science Laboratory II
- MAT.A252 ： Materials Science Laboratory III
Prerequisites
No prerequisites are necessary, but enrollment in the related courses is desirable.