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Engineering Online

CHE 596 601 Polymer Rheology

3 Credit Hours

This introductory course is designed to offer a broad overview of rheological principles. Prior knowledge in the subject is not required and participants from any discipline are welcome. The course content will have three components: general principles, experimental methods, and applications. The last part will focus on specific systems (e.g. suspensions, foams, gels, coatings, etc.). Major experimental techniques will be discussed, and, participants having taken this course will be familiar with the peculiar flow characteristics of complex systems, be able to quantify Non-Newtonian fluids and be able to interpret /design rheological experiments. Unlike traditional engineering courses that focus on mathematical solutions, the emphasis will be on interpreting physical situations, analyzing/examining experimental results and designing/proposing methods and experiments to probe fundamental hypothesis.

Course Prerequisite

B.S. degree in engineering or related scientific fields.

Course Topics

The topics covered in the course will include the following:

  • General Overview: flow phenomena in polymeric fluids, mathematical preliminaries
  • Material functions for Polymer Liquids
  • Generalized Newtonian Fluids
  • Linear Viscoelasticity
  • Rheometry
  • Gels and Chemorheology of Reacting Systems
  • Suspensions and Multiphase Systems
  • Polymer Melts and Solutions
  • Special Topics: Associative Polymers, Coatings Rheology, Tribology

Course Requirements

HOMEWORK: Homework will be assigned approximately every other week. (10%)

EXAMINATIONS: There will be two examinations, a mid-term and a final. (70%)

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS: None

PROJECTS: Students will be required to perform critical reviews of two recently published rheology articles. The format of the reviews will be discussed in class. (20%)

Textbook Information

Macosko, Christopher W. RHEOLOGY: Principles, Measurements and Applications, Wiley and Sons, 1994.

Additional handouts will also be provided.

OPTIONAL Textbooks:

Bird, R. Byron, Robert C. Armstrong and Ole Hassager, Dynamics of Polymer Liquids, Vol. 1, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 1987.

Morrison, Faith A., Understanding Rheology, Oxford University Press, 2001

Larson, Ronald G., The Structure and Rheology of Complex Fluids, Oxford University Press, 1999.

Updated 4/20/2020