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Polymer Nanocomposites, Why bother?
Instructor – Dr. Thomas Seery
A Short Course for Engineers, Scientists, Designers and Quality Assurance Managers
Wednesday, June 3 and Thursday, June 4, 2009
UConn, Storrs campus
In the 1980’s, Toyota demonstrated substantial improvements to the properties of nylon 6 from the simple incorporation of small volume fractions of clay. The prospect of improving polymer properties by adding “dirt” and displacing expensive synthetic chemicals is very appealing from an industrial perspective. The subsequent hype and excitement led to substantial research on the preparation and properties of polymer nanocomposites.
This course will provide background on critical issues in synthesis, fabrication, processing, and characterization of nanocomposites to guide the practitioner in assessing the utility of nanocomposite applications. We will discuss the underlying scientific principles that guide the study of structure-property relationships and will touch on parallel fields of investigation with high relevance to polymer nanocomposites. The course will also cover the incorporation of a variety of nanophases into polymeric matrixes to provide functional materials, the importance of controlling surface energy, methods for achieving dispersion and common techniques for characterizing nanocomposite materials.
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University of Connecticut |