MAE 4671

Polymer Mechanics

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

This course will provide foundations of polymer mechanics building from the basics of mechanics of materials. The focus will be split between experimental methods/data interpretation and modeling approaches. Topics will include hyper-elasticity, viscoelasticity, glass transition temperature, and plasticity with applications to both synthetic and biological materials. There will also be a scientific literature reading component through which students will be able to pick their own focus areas in the latter part of the semester.

Prerequisites ENGRD 2020 and MAE 3270, or MSE 2610.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025SP, 2024SP, 2023SP, 2022SP

Outcomes

• The student will be able to classify polymers into different regimes of behavior and explain their microstructural origin.
• The student will be able to analyze and interpret data from key experimental methods for polymer thermo-mechanical properties.
• The student will be able to describe, computationally implement, and find parameters for models that describe key aspects of polymer and gel mechanical behavior.
• The student will be able to explain how the thermo-mechanical properties of natural and synthetic polymers are central to applications of interest to the student.

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