On completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. CS: Explain the relationship between polymer properties (thermal, rheological, mechanical), and polymer microstructure and molecular weight; Relate polymer properties to their processing and uses; Explain methods for determining the microstructure and molecular weight of polymers and describe the significance of polymer solubility, melting point and glass transition temperature.
2. K&U: Describe different types of polymerisation process, and the significance in each of: initiation, propagation, termination, branching; and, for copolymerisation, reactivity ratios and monomer ratio.
3. Practice: Calculate average molecular weights of polymers knowing the conversion and/or other reaction conditions; Calculate the ratio of monomer types in copolymerisation and predict the type of sequence obtained; Determine the data required for the design of polymerisation reactors of a variety of types: batch, plug-flow, CSTR, heterogeneous (emulsion, fluidised bed), and predict the mean residence time and size of reactor for simplified cases.