Soft Materials Engineering

This course considers the relation between soft material composition and structure and how they can be used or modified to take part in various applications. The course provides core competence for students aiming at either a RenD-industry career or an academic one. In this course you will learn the foundations underlying the behavior of soft matter, (i.e. polymers, self-assembly structures). Fundamental knowledge is then related to advanced applications in various fields ranging from sensing, coatings, to bio-medical and health care materials as well as materials for energy such as fuel cell membranes.

An introduction on the theories describing the structure and dynamics of soft materials will be given as well as how those properties can be determined experimentally. The topics covered in the course provide an introduction to structures, energies and timescales typical of soft condensed matter. Supra-molecular structures and material properties arising from those interactions will then be considered. Those relations are in turn, illustrated with high-end applications and you will be thought how the control of various kinds of molecular interactions can lead to desired advanced material properties and structures.

Some specific topics:

• Molecular forces and binding energies in Soft Materials

• Mechanical properties of soft materials (viscoelasticity)

• Polymer dynamics

• Gels and rubbers

• Rheology techniques for studying soft materials

• Glass transition

• Polymer mixtures: phase diagram and phase separation

• Self-assembling in solution

• Self-assembled nano materials

• High Tech Topics on Soft Materials Engineering (considered in guest lectures or in group assignments - examples: gels for tissue engineering, responsive coatings, ...)

Assessment
The assessment includes a mid-term assignment in groups of 2 students, and a final written exam. The assignment is described below.

The grade of the assignment can count towards 30% of the course grade and in this case, the written exam counts for 70% of the course grade. A minimum mark of 5.0 in the written exam is required for this construction to be accepted.

In case the course grade based on the construction combining the assignment and the exam is lower than the grade of the written exam itself, then the exam counts for 100% of the final grade.

Students who do not secure a passing mark (>=6.0) for the course based on the assignments plus written exam can still do a written resit. In this case, the resit alone counts for 100% of the final course grade.

The mid-term Assignment:

- Consists of a video literature review (6 min) of a chosen topic by the student duo.

- Chosen topics are communicated and approved by the teachers on week 2-3 of the course

- The review considers of a critical analysis of the literature of the last 5 years of the chosen topic

- Students develop a video review using a guide and support provided by the teachers. This guide explains how to proceed, step by step. Video review examples are also provided.

- A presentation of the video review open to the class takes place on week 6-7 (tentative) and all students participate in the discussion as presence is compulsory.