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To my beloved wife Olia, for her inspiration, support and patience
Regardless of the fact that, with respect to the subject of study, polymer science belongs among the oldest since its subject is living matter, but as an individual science it was formulated very recently, less than 100 years ago. This happened between 1920 and 1930 thanks to the continuous and systematic efforts of the German chemist Hermann Staudinger.
Another peculiarity of polymer science is the fact that its further establishment and development was driven mostly by chemists. Only after World War II, when the commercial production of synthetic polymers boomed, did engineers join the research of polymers, particularly in the mechanical characterization of polymer materials.
Due to the attractive properties of synthetic polymers as materials, they quickly found wide applications parallel to classical materials and even started to replace them. What is more, in many cases they possess a combination of properties which is unknown for common natural materials. In this way, step by step, polymer material science became a subject of study for engineers and physicists.
During 50 years of being involved in polymer research, mostly structure–properties relationships, I have had the chance, particularly during the last two decades, to work together with mechanical engineers in the area of polymer composites. From my contacts with engineering students while advising their Master or PhD theses, I gained the impression that their knowledge of polymer science is very limited. As a rule, they do not have the chance to get any systematic information on polymer science and for this reason they apply their knowledge of metals when dealing with polymer materials.
Possibly, the curriculum of engineering students is overloaded and it is not possible to offer them a specialized course on polymer science. At the same time, it could hardly be accepted as a normal situation when an engineering student is working 3–4 years on his polymer-oriented PhD dissertation without having a good idea about the glass transition temperature of polymers, about the basic difference between polyethylene and poly(ethylene terephthalate), or about the nature of high elasticity and polymer processing. What is more, some basic knowledge about polymers, including their synthesis and chemical properties is needed also by engineers researching polymer materials. Good examples in this respect include polymer composites, whose mechanical performance depends mostly on two basic factors – the aspect ratio of the reinforcing component and the adhesive quality between the matrix and the reinforcement. As a rule, adhesion is poor because the two components are chemically different and seizing or compatibilizers are used to improve the situation. At the same time, dealing with polymer–polymer or single polymer composites based on condensation polymers (e.g., polyesters and polyamides) or involving cellulose- or protein-based fibers, the chemical interactions between matrix and reinforcement possibly result in the establishment of chemical bonds between them. In the author's opinion, this potential for drastic improvement of the interfacial adhesion quality between matrix and reinforcement is not explored enough by the composite community mostly because of a lack of chemistry knowledge among the engineers involved in this type of research.
Possibly, some solution to the current situation could be the offer of a specially prepared textbook to engineering students involved in polymer research. In this they can find very basic knowledge on the synthesis, properties, processing, and application potentials of polymer materials. Just such an attempt is undertaken in the current book. A feature of the book is the author's approach of continuously comparing the physical properties of polymers with those of low molecular weight substances and materials. This is done because of the author's belief that these physical properties demonstrate in the best way the specific properties of polymers, as compared with low molecular weight substances. For this reason, the consideration of a given phenomenon starts with describing the situation in the case of low molecular weight substances, followed by analyzing the characteristic features of the same phenomenon when dealing with high molecular weight substances. A good example in this respect is the crystallization phenomenon – the specific characteristic features of polymer crystallization are discussed after introducing the same phenomenon in the case of low molecular weight substances.
Another feature of the textbook is that it is not intended for chemists but for readers dealing mostly with polymers as materials. In addition, as mentioned above, a good idea about the specific characteristic features of polymers could be obtained by considering their physical properties. For this reason, the book starts by discussing the physics and physical properties of polymers. Further, some terms, definitions, or statements are repeated in the text on purpose, because they are considered very important and have to reach the reader, who is unlikely to systematically read the whole book.
Auckland, Spring 2017
Stoyko Fakirov
My appreciation goes first to my undergraduate and graduate students from various Universities, who helped me to realize how serious the need for such a textbook on polymers is for them and who inspired me to attempt its preparation. These students are from the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA, the Institute of Composite Materials at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Bosphorus University, Turkey, the Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Mino, Braga-Gimaraesh, Portugal, the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, Germany, and particularly the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Auckland University, New Zealand, where I have been working during the last 13 years.
Further, my thanks go to Prof. M. Chanda from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, whose excellent textbook has been used intensively during the preparation of this text as well as for his valuable suggestions for improvement of the current textbook.
I would like to express my appreciations to my colleagues and good friends, Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. K. Friedrich, co-founder of the Institute for Composite Materials at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, Prof. Dr. H.-J. Radusch from the Martin Luther University of Halle, Germany, and Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. J. Karger-Kocsis from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, all of them being engineers researching polymer materials, for their kind acceptance to read the manuscript, as well as for making interesting suggestions aiming at improvement of the book.
Thanks are also due to my former students, Dr. V.B. Mohan and Dr. K. Nam, as well as to my good friend Dr. W. Wheelwright for their valuable technical help during the preparation of the manuscript.
This project could hardly be realized without the generous permission of the following Publishers for using material from their publications:
To all of them – my sincere thanks!
And last but not least, I would like to address my appreciation to my colleague and good friend, the Distinguished Professor of The University of Auckland, New Zealand, D. Bhattacharyya, who invited me to visit (for six months) his Center for Advanced Composite Materials where for 13 years I have already enjoyed not only our joint research but also the excellent living conditions of this lovely country.
I thank also the Department of Mechanical Engineering of The Auckland University for their warm hospitality, where this project was completed.
Stoyko Fakirov
If you once enter in the world of polymers, You will never leave it. T. Tsuruta