2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Undergraduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering
Polymer Rheology
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Masatoshi Tokita
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Mon
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- CAP.Y302
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 1Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 19, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
This course deals with the rheology of amorphous linear chain polymers. Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of materials or objects. Polymer rheology is essential not only for the forming and processing processes of polymers to produce films, fibers, containers, etc. but also for academics because polymer rheology is related to the molecular motions of polymers.
This course aims to enable students to understand the dynamics of polymer chains over a wide range of time and space scales, from picoseconds to hundreds of hours, from 0.1 to 100 nm, through polymer rheology.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to
1) Explain viscoelasticity of polymers phenomenologically and in molecular theory (polymer structures).
2) Explain rubber elasticity in molecular theory (polymer structures) and thermodynamics.
3) Have an understanding of time-temperature superposition principle, and based on this, produce and explain master curves.
Keywords
viscoelasticity, rubber elasticity, reptation, Rouse model, time-temperature superposition principle, master curve
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Each class is devoted to letting students reach the required learning from fundamentals. To allow students to get a good understanding of the course contents and practical applications, problems related to the contents of this course are provided.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | 1-1. Outline of this course; 1-2. Stress and strain | Calculate the modulus and viscosity from the stress and strain on uniaxial elongation or simple shear deformation. |
| Class 2 | 2-1. Entropy elasticity; 2-2. Rubber elasticity | Calculate the tension of rubber and the modulus of a polymer chain. Calculate the cross-linking density from the rubber modulus. |
| Class 3 | 3-1. Viscoelasticity (relaxation elasticity); 3-2. Viscoelasticity (dynamic elasticity) | Explain phenomenological theory on stress relaxation and creep using mechanical models. Calculate the storage and loss moduli on applying oscillating strain to a viscoelastic model. |
| Class 4 | 4-1. Measurement techniques and data processing; 4-2. Time-temperature superposition principle and the WLF equation | Explain the measurement techniques of polymer viscoelasticity. Understand the phenomenological theory on the time-temperature superposition principle. Explain the temperature dependence of relaxation time based on the free-volume theory and derive the Williams-Landel-Ferry equation. |
| Class 5 | 5-1. Feature of polymer viscoelasticity and the molecular approach; 5-2. Boltzmann superposition principle | Derive the relationships between relaxation modulus and viscosity and complex modulus from Boltzmann's superposition principle. |
| Class 6 | 6-1. Rouse model and tube model; 6-2. Understanding of master curves | Explain the frequency dependence of complex modulus in the glass transition and terminal flow regions based on the Rouse model. Explain the rubber plateau and molecular weight dependence of viscosity for entangled polymer melts based on the tube model. Estimate characteristic times from master curves to understand relaxation processes in polymer melts quantitatively. |
| Class 7 | 7-1. Exercises; 7-2. Explanation on the excercises | Confirm one's understanding of the lecture content by practicing comprehensive exercises. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
This course expects students to review course content and solve exercises after each class.
Textbook(s)
Lecture materials will be distributed. The lecture content corresponds best to the reference book " Kiso Kobunshi Kagaku (Introduction to Polymer Science) 2nd ed."
Reference books, course materials, etc.
The Society of Polymer Science, Japan, ed., Kiso Kobunshi Kagaku (Introduction to Polymer Science) 2nd ed., 2020, Tokyo: Tokyo Kagaku Dojin, ISBN :978-4-8079-0962-9 (Japanese)
M. Rubinstein and R. H. Colby, Polymer Physics, Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-852059-X
Evaluation methods and criteria
Grading of 50% will be based on the answers to the comprehensive exercises given in the seventh session and the remaining 50% on the exercises (or assignments) given in each class.
Related courses
- CAP.Y201 ： Polymer Chemistry Basics
- CAP.Y204 ： Polymer Physics I (Polymer Solutions)
- CAP.Y205 ： Polymer Physics II (Solid Structures)
- CAP.Y304 ： Polymer Physical Properties
- CAP.P581 ： Advanced Polymer Processing
- CAP.P361 ： Polymer Chemistry Laboratory I
- CAP.P362 ： Polymer Chemistry Laboratory II
Prerequisites
Students must have successfully completed Polymer Chemistry Basics or have equivalent knowledge.