2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Department of Chemical Science and Engineering Graduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering

Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering II

Academic unit or major: Graduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering
Instructor(s): Minoru Seki / Naoyuki Sakumichi
Class Format: Lecture (HyFlex)
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): Intensive
Class: -
Course Code: CAP.T424
Number of credits: 100
Course offered: 2025
Offered quarter: 3-4Q
Syllabus updated: Nov 18, 2025
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

[Outline] In this lecture, we will comprehend to educate chemists who understand fundamental and advanced chemistry for developing the functions and properties of materials toward the preparation of advanced materials. In order to train, researchers active at the forefront of applied chemistry fields introduce their research results from basic to applied.
[Objective] We aim to acquire a broad knowledge of researchers who are active at the forefront of applied chemistry field concerning research from basic to applied.

Course description and aims

First half: Prof. Minoru Seki:
Biomanufacturing is expected to be used not only in pharmaceuticals and food, where it has been pioneered, but also in a variety of industrial fields, including chemicals, materials, textiles, and fuels. It is expected to become the next generation's industrial infrastructure as a form of "sustainable manufacturing" that replaces various manufacturing processes that traditionally use fossil fuels as raw materials. How to utilize renewable biological resources, promote economic activity while reducing the environmental impact, and build the next generation's industrial infrastructure presents a number of challenges, including technical, cost, and institutional issues, and we are facing a major challenge. This article will introduce the current state of this issue and trends in technological development from various angles, and consider new innovations in the manufacturing industry.
Second half: Prof. Naoyuki Sakumichi:(1) Explain the fundamentals of entropy elasticity and energy elasticity in rubber and gels. (2) Explain the concept of negative energy elasticity and its manifestation mechanism. (3) Explain the velocity jump phenomenon and changes in crack tip shape during crack propagation in rubber. (Prof. Seki's lecture content will be announced shortly)

Keywords

rubber, gel, elasticity, negative energy, crack, velocity jump, (Prof. Seki's lecture content will be announced shortly)

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Two lecturers will each give an intensive lecture in a high-flex format.
First half: Prof. Minoru Seki: Biomanufacturing
Second half: Prof. Naoyuki Sakumichi: Understanding the Elastic Mechanisms of Rubber and Gel Materials and Crack Propagation Phenomena

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	Biomanufacturing	Biomanufacturing is expected to be used not only in pharmaceuticals and food, where it has been pioneered, but also in a variety of industrial fields, including chemicals, materials, textiles, and fuels. It is expected to become the next generation's industrial infrastructure as a form of "sustainable manufacturing" that replaces various manufacturing processes that traditionally use fossil fuels as raw materials. How to utilize renewable biological resources, promote economic activity while reducing the environmental impact, and build the next generation's industrial infrastructure presents a number of challenges, including technical, cost, and institutional issues, and we are facing a major challenge. This article will introduce the current state of this issue and trends in technological development from various angles, and consider new innovations in the manufacturing industry.
Class 2	Polymer gels (gels) are soft, wet solids formed when the three-dimensional network structure of chain-like polymers swells by incorporating large amounts of solvent. Recently, we discovered that the elastic modulus of gels exhibits a significant “negative energy elasticity” originating from internal energy changes, in addition to entropy elasticity, which cannot be ignored. This finding overturns the long-standing conventional wisdom that the elastic modulus of polymer gels can be largely explained solely by entropy elasticity, similar to rubber. This lecture will carefully explain entropy elasticity and energy elasticity from both the macroscopic thermodynamic perspective and the microscopic polymer chain perspective. Considering the unavoidable volume changes in thermal elasticity measurements of rubber and gel, it will also cover recent discoveries, such as formulas for deriving true energy and entropy elasticity from isobaric data, and the mechanism of negative energy elasticity using a simple lattice model. In crack propagation through viscoelastic solids like rubber, gel, and resin, a phenomenon called “velocity jump” occurs where the crack propagation speed changes by a factor of several thousand, from low to high. It is known that during this jump, the crack tip changes from a parabolic shape to a pointed one. However, much remains unknown about the mechanisms behind the occurrence of velocity jumps and the sharpening of the crack tip. This presentation will introduce current understanding, focusing on recent research that has elucidated these mechanisms and provided guidelines for toughening through experiments, theory, and numerical simulations.	Lecture 1, 2: “Entropy Elasticity and Energy Elasticity of Rubber and Gels” Lecture 3: “Mechanisms of Velocity Jumps and Tip Sharpening in Crack Propagation in Rubber”

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None required.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Handouts will be distributed.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Attendance will be checked in every class. Full attendance is required in principle. Course score will be based on the reports evaluation.

Related courses

CAP.T423 ： Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering I
CAP.T425 ： Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering III
CAP.A461 ： Advanced Solid State Chemistry I
CAP.P432 ： Elements of Polymer Science II

Prerequisites

No prerequisites.

Other

Class Schedule and Location (All Hybrid Lectures)
Session 1: 11/17 (Mon) 13:30-19:00 (ends early)
Professor Minoru Seki, Chiba University
Hybrid Lecture: Oogakuyama Campus, In-Person Lecture M-123 (Suzukakedai Campus: G1-109)
The classroom location will be posted on the LMS once confirmed.

Session 2: Wednesday, December 3, 15:25–17:05
12/5 (Fri) 13:30–17:05
ZEN University Professor Naoyuki Sakumichi
Hybrid Lecture: Oogakama Campus In-Person Lecture M-124 (Suzukakedai TBD)
The classroom will be announced on the LMS once confirmed.
Students are welcome to attend in person by moving between campuses.