Course

Polymer processingProcessing methods for the manufacture of products with dry rubber, blending and mastication,master batching of of polymers, mixing and compounding in mills and internal mixers,calendaring, sheeting, fabric coating, extension, moulding. Batch curing methods: autoclavecuring, gas curing, over curing, water curing, lead curing, cold curing. Processing methods forplastic products manufacture: methods of mixing, injection, compression and transfer moulding, extrusion, calendaring, thermoforming, blow moulding, rotational moulding and slush moulding.Polymerization techniquesBulk polymerization, solution polymerization, emulsion polymerization, suspension polymerization, interfacial polymerization, melt polycondensation, solution polycondensation, solid and gas phasepolymerization.Polymer testingImportance of standards and standard organisations. Processability and performance, testing of plastics and rubbers, material characterisation tests such as melt flow index, capillary rheometer test, viscosity test, gel permeation, chromatography, and thermal analysis.Material characterisation tests for thermosets. Apparent bulk density, bulk factor and pourability of plastics materials. Flow tests such as spiral blow, cup flow, viscosity tests for thermoset resins bubble viscometer, Brookefield viscometer, gel time and peak exothermic temperature ofthermosetting resins.Polymer propertiesMechanical properties: Tensile strength, flexural and compression properties, creep properties, stress relaxation, impact properties, shear strength, abrasion, fatigue and hardness etc. Thermal properties: heat deflection temperature, vicat softening temperature, torsion pendulum test, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, brittleness temperature.Electrical properties; dielectric strength, dielectric constant, dissipation factor, electrical resistance, arc resistance etc. Weathering properties: UV, IR, X-ray, microorganisms, humidity, ozone oxygen, water, thermal energy, chemical factors.Optical properties: Refractive indices, luminous transmittance and haze, colour, gloss.Polymer characterisationFunctional group analysis, use of chemical reactions and degradation for structural analysis, various microscopic techniques such as light microscopy, electron microscopy etc. and spectroscopic techniques such as IR, FTIR, NMR,EPR,UV-Visible, Raman, fluorescence etc.

TEXTBOOKS/ REFERENCES:1. J.A. Brydson, Plastics Materialsa,Butterworths,19892. F.W. Bilmer, Textbook of polymer science, Wiley interscience,19713. W.A. Holmes Walker, Polymer Conversion, Applied Sciences 19754. Maurice Morton, Rubber technology5. M. Blow, Rubber Technology and Manufacture, Newness, Butterworths,19776. R.T Fenner, Principles of polymer processing, Macmillan,1979