Materials Science of Polymers

The recent renaissance in polymer chemistry has resulted in the development of a wide variety of new living polymerisation procedures and the adoption of many synthetic concepts and strategies from organic chemistry, effectively blurring the distinction between organic chemistry and polymer chemistry. A central theme in all of this recent work is the desire to accurately control polymeric structure and functionality to a degree that has previously been solely the domain of natural systems. This has allowed researchers to synthesise a wide range of advanced macromolecular targets with control over shape, size and functional group placement that could not be achieved using traditional procedures and heralds a new era in synthetic polymer chemistry. The scope of this feature article is to provide an insight into the structural diversity that can be accomplished with these recently developed techniques, what challenges still exist and how these advances can impact other related fields in polymer physics and materials science.

The manipulation of a polymer’s properties without altering its chemical composition is a major challenge in polymer chemistry, materials science and engineering. Although variables such as chemical structure, branching, molecular weight and dispersity are routinely used to control the architecture and physical properties of polymers, little attention is given to the often profound effect of the breadth and shape of the molecular-weight distribution (MWD) on the properties of polymers. Synthetic strategies now make it possible to explore the importance of parameters such as skew and the higher moments of the MWD function beyond the average and standard deviation. In this Review, we describe early accounts of the effect of MWD shape on polymer properties; discuss synthetic strategies for controlling MWD shape; describe current endeavours to understand the influence of MWD shape on rheological and mechanical properties and phase behaviour; and provide insight into the future of using MWDs in the design of polymeric materials. Controlling polymerization is required to fully understand and tune the function of a polymer. Alongside variables such as dispersity, molecular weight and chemical composition, the shape of the molecular-weight distribution has substantial influence on polymer properties. In this Review, we discuss methods to systematically control the shape of a polymer’s molecular-weight distribution, as well as explore the profound effects of shape on polymer properties.

Addition of fillers to polymers has long been used as a strategy to enhance the properties of polymers. In the last two decades, however, a class of materials termed as "polymer nanocomposites" (PNC) has evolved to refer to blends of polymers and inorganic fillers in which the inorganic component has one or more dimensions below 100 nm.1-3 Examples of such materials include mixtures of a variety of homopolymers and multicomponent polymers blended with fillers such as clays, nanotubes, Fullerenes, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS), nanoscopic silica particles, and so forth.2-7 Initial interest and research in such materials arose from the significant property enhancements reported for extremely low loadings of nanofillers. These reports fueled intense research into the mechanical, electrical, barrier, and fire retardancy properties of PNCs and have led to some notable commercial technologies utilizing PNCs.1, 8-10 More recent efforts have expanded the above class of studies and materials by examining the properties of nanocomposites involving polymer blends and block copolymers, where the potential to create multifunctional materials possessing novel electrical, magnetic, and optical properties have been reported.11, 12 However, despite the scale of intense research on PNCs, much of the initial promise of PNCs has not yet borne out. In this viewpoint article, I present an (admittedly) personal perspective of some of the issues confronting the field of PNCs, focusing especially on the opportunities by which theory, modeling, and computer simulations from polymer physics may aid in realizing the full potential of PNCs. Many of the common nanofillers used in PNCs are unfortunately characterized by strong van der waals interparticle attractions, which promote their agglomeration.13 Moreover, the effective interactions between nanofillers are also influenced by the polymer-filler interactions, and if the latter are unfavorable, it leads to conditions conducive to the aggregation of the fillers. Aggregation and clustering of the fillers typically leads to a significant reduction in the interfacial contact between the fillers and the polymer and hence a deterioration of the property enhancements that can be attained in PNCs. Consequently, achieving stable, dispersed configurations of nanofillers in the polymer matrix is a prime requirement to realize the full property potential of PNCs. Many experimental strategies have been explo-red to overcome the above challenge.14 These have ranged from using polymer-filler combinations, which are known to exhibit favorable affinities to functionalizing the fillers by self-assembling surfactant and grafting polymers to promote favorable polymer-filler interactions (and provide a steric barrier against agglomeration). Also, successful strategies using external fields to promote nonequilibrium dispersion of the nanofiller have been demonstrated.15 From a theoretical perspective, the outstanding question confronting the design of such strategies is "For specified combination of matrix polymer(s), filler(s), the functionalizing moieties and/or external fields, can we predict the equilibrium and nonequilibrium structural characteristics of the PNC dispersion?" Anisotropy of fillers: Most of the PNCs explored for applications involve filler particles such as clays, carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, and so forth, which exhibit considerable shape anisotropy. Indeed, such fillers prove most suitable for exploiting significant polymer-filler interfacial contact at even extremely low loadings of the filler. In contrast, very few of the aforementioned theories and simulations deal with the phase behavior and structure of mixtures of anisotropic fillers dispersed in single and multicomponent polymers.27-29 The rich literature of colloidal physics suggests that the equilibrium characteristics of anisotropic colloids can be expected to be significantly different and richer compared with their isotropic counterparts.30 Moreover, situations combining anisotropic fillers with multicomponent polymers such as block copolymers can be expected to reveal a rich interplay between polymer self-assembly and colloidal phase behavior. It will be of significant interest to PNC research to translate some of the theoretical advances achieved in the context of spherical fillers to the corresponding situations involving anisotropic fillers. Role of Functionalization: As mentioned earlier, functionalization of the fillers is a common strategy to overcome the issue of agglomeration of fillers. However, in much of the existing theories, the role of functionalization is treated either empirically as a modified polymer-filler interaction18, 23 or in more detailed formalism as a modification of the effective polymer-mediated potentials between the fillers. The first approach can be deemed reasonable for small oligomeric or surfactant-like functionalizers, but suffers from the drawback that it leaves open the question of the relationship between the polymer-filler interaction and the physicochemical properties of the functionalizing group. The second approach has typically been effected for the situation of grafted polymer functionalizers.31 It is, however, a pairwise interaction approach that works only for the homogeneous phase of the polymer matrix and in addition neglects multibody effects, which may become important when either long grafting polymers or higher concentrations of fillers are used. Overall, it would be desirable to develop a suite of simulations and/or modeling tools that, similar to the nongrafted case, can obviate such assumptions while still being able to predict the structure of the PNC dispersion. Structure under nonequilibrium and external field conditions: Despite the best experimental strategies, nonequilibrium effects resulting from filler aggregation and/or external fields are bound to remain important for many applications of PNCs, especially for situations involving anisotropic fillers. Some unresolved questions include: "How does the structure of a PNC dispersion evolve upon dispersing the fillers in the polymer matrix?," "Can quantities such as the fractal dimension and cluster size distributions be predicted for specified polymer-filler combinations?," "How does externally applied shear, electric, and magnetic fields (and combinations thereof) impact upon the nonequilibrium state of the dispersion?" Although computer simulations may shed light on some of the relevant issues, the time and length scales, which can be probed by such means may not necessarily overlap with experimental regimes, and there is a need for development of appropriate theoretical models to address pertinent issues. There have been some notable theoretical advances in this regard in the context of colloidal science,32, 33 and a preliminary assessment of their applicability to the field of PNCs would be extremely beneficial. However, issues unique to PNCs, such as the significant anisotropy of the fillers, potentially long-ranged interparticle interactions (mediated by the polymers), the dynamical and rheological response of the polymer matrix, are expected to prove important and provide fertile and challenging areas for theoretical research. Detailed structural characteristics: Many experimental studies of the mechanical, electrical, and rheological behavior of PNCs have suggested an intimate connection between enhanced macroscopic properties and the percolation behavior of the fillers.10, 34-36 Although such features can be directly extracted in computer simulations, existing theoretical frameworks mostly concern with the phase behavior and/or structural features at a pair correlation level. It may be of interest to the PNC experimental community to develop a theoretical framework, which can predict the the influence of different interactions, functionalization, and external fields upon more detailed structural characteristics such as the percolation characteristics37, 38 fractal and cluster dimensions of the fillers in the polymer matrix. Connection to atomistic details: Much of the above discussion focused on some open questions in the context of structure of PNCs as examined from a "coarse-grained" polymer physics perspective. Although such efforts are valuable for providing design guidelines, deducing mechanistic underpinnings and suggesting new experimental strategies, questions involving the detailed chemistry of the filler, polymer and functional groups cannot typically be answered in such frameworks. This situation is compounded by the fact that much of the coarse-grained modeling of PNCs use potentials and interaction parameters, which cannot also be directly determined from experimental measurements. The latter contrasts with the analogous situation in multicomponent polymer melts and solutions where experimental solubility measurements provide direct information on the parameters used in the corresponding coarse-grained theories.39 Addressing this shortcoming in the context of PNCs requires the development of efficient computer simulation tools and methodologies, which can render the connection between the chemistry of the components and the coarse-grained parameters more quantitative. The research field of "coarse-graining methodologies" is undergoing intense development in the context of simple and polymeric fluids.40-42 Although some notable "multiscale" efforts have also occurred in the context of PNCs,43, 44 much work remains to be done in surmounting the time, length scale challenges accompanying the interactions, structure, and properties of PNCs. Detailed structural information: Much of the aforementioned macroscopic theories were developed for model structural representations such as random or completely aligned dispersions while ignoring PNC specific features such as aggregation and/or complex structural arrangement of the fillers. Consequently, it is not surprising that such ideal models cannot quantitatively predict the properties of PNCs. One potential area for future research is the development of macroscopic models capable of accommodating detailed structural information, such as experimentally obtainable pair correlation functions of the fillers or cluster sizes and fractal dimension of aggregates, while rendering quantitative predictions regarding the macroscopic properties of PNCs. This area has recently seen some notable advances, especially arising from numerical continuum mechanical approaches.47-49 It may be envisioned that the results of such efforts can be used to guide the refinement of classical models to accommodate the PNC specific features. Interfacial effects: An important feature that distinguishes PNCs from traditional composites is the presence of significant amounts of polymer-filler interfaces and its influence upon the macroscopic properties. To highlight the resulting issues, I point out the status with respect to the "simpler" situation of polymer films supported on a solid substrate. In such contexts, experiments have clearly demonstrated that the polymer-surface interactions can lead to properties for the polymer layer, which are in general markedly different from that of the bulk polymeric material.50 Moreover, for properties such as glass transition temperatures,51 aging dynamics,52, 53 and elastic moduli,54 the interfacial effects have been shown to persist to extremely long length scales relative to the physical dimensions of the polymer. In the context of properties that exhibit only a short ranged interfacial effects (such as solubility of penetrants and mechanical properties), the aforementioned approaches may suffice to accommodate the influence of polymer-filler interfaces upon macroscopic properties. However, to endow a predictive value to theories, quantitative connections between the physicochemical polymer-filler interactions and the properties of the interfacial layer (or the parameters in the boundary conditions) in such models needs to be established. Although computer simulations may aid in this effort, in many cases, new formalisms may be necessary to discern quantities such as "local" mechanical properties,55 "local" conductivities, "local" penetrant diffusivities, and so forth, in such efforts. Once the connections between polymer-filler interactions and the interfacial properties are firmly established, "homogenization theories" similar to that used for the macroscopic properties of composites and dispersed media may be pursued. However, such approaches still need to be augmented to account for the possibility of complex structural arrangement of the fillers (an issue discussed earlier) and the overlap of interfacial layers which may consequently arise. As discussed earlier, some interfacial properties (such as the glass transition temperatures) are known to display long ranged variations influenced by the surface of the fillers, and in such cases, boundary condition and/or three-phase model approaches are likely to prove inadequate for capturing the influence of polymer-filler interfaces upon the macroscopic properties of the system. Refining the existing models to account for such properties represents an extremely challenging task, because in many cases there is a lack of understanding of the physics underlying such long ranged variations in polymer thin films. Moving to PNCs brings even more complications, such as the possibility for overlap of interfacial layers arising from different particles (such overlaps become very likely for long-ranged effects), leading to significant multibody interaction effects. Overall, this is an area for which the directions of theoretical modeling are far less clear (to me), suggesting that radically new ideas may be necessary to make progress in understanding and predicting the properties of polymer thin films and PNCs. The above represents an opinionated selection of some of the open questions confronting theoretical modeling of polymer nanocomposite systems. While active research is in progress in a number of the above-mentioned areas, successful fruition in many of the issues requires a confluence of ideas from different fields, viz., colloid and polymer physics, statistical and continuum mechanics, modeling and simulation approaches, and most importantly, experiments and theories. While technology and experiments are likely to provide more focus to the issues and theoretical efforts, progress in the above delineated issues is expected to have significant fundamental implications for many related areas of polymer and colloidal science, and may also potentially lead to uses and applications of PNCs above and beyond what has been realized or even dreamed about. This research program on polymer nanocomposites has been graciously supported by research grants from the National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society, Air Force Research Laboratories, Robert A. Welch Foundation, and the US Army Research Office under grant W911NF-07-1-0268. The author thanks Dr. Victor Pryamitsyn for useful comments which helped to shape the ideas expressed in this viewpoint. The author also acknowledges Profs. Glenn Fredrickson, Kenneth Schweizer, John Torkelson, Peter Green, Donald Paul, Jack Douglas, Sanat Kumar, Richard Vaia, and Ramanan Krishnamoorti for many discussions over the years while patiently educating him on the issues in polymer nanocomposites.

The Introduction of the Radical Cascade Reaction into Polymer Chemistry: A One-Step Strategy for Synchronized Polymerization and Modification.

In dentistry, two types of composites are used: lightand chemical-cured. Light-cured composites are preferred by dentists, mainly due to their longer working time before the curing process is initiated by exposure to visible light. Such materials have been indicated for various clinical procedures such as aesthetic and functional restorations of anterior and posterior teeth, preventive restorations, cementation of endodontic posts, indirect restorations with prostheses, and bonding of orthodontic appliances. The importance of the curing efficiency to the performance of light-cured composites is well established. The physical and mechanical properties of these materials are influenced by the level of monomer to polymer conversion achieved during the polymerization process (Manffezzoli et al., 1994). Light intensity and irradiation time are important factors to achieve an appropriate degree of conversion (DC) of photoactivated composites (Rueggeberg et al., 1992). DC also depends on the medium in which the material is being cured. An important physical property of the cured matrix is indicated by the glass transition temperature (Tg). The Tg of a dental composite is only of relevance if it lies within the range of intraoral temperatures (Knox et al., 2000; Moore et al., 1999). Inadequate polymerization determines a low final Tg in material. Intraoral temperatures that exceed the Tg may result in material softening and, consequently, in failure of the clinical procedure (Rueggeberg et al., 1992). Glass transitions are one of the most important phenomena in polymeric materials because they determine the physical state and final mechanical properties of the material. The Tg represents a point at which dramatic changes take place in polymer properties. Tg is the temperature at which amorphous polymers undergo a transition from a glassy to a rubbery state. At temperatures lower than Tg, only localized molecular movements are observed (secondary relaxations); for T > Tg, the flow of chains occurs. Between both (i.e., T = Tg), a rather complicated behavior known as the primary (or ) relaxation is observed. Moreover, crystallization is possible for a great number of polymers so that such materials are formed by two phases differing highly in their rheological properties. In the case of totally amorphous polymers, the occurrence of localized molecular motion below Tg in a glassy polymer ( relaxation) is considered a precursor of the large-scale molecular motion ( relaxation). In the case of amorphous polymers, the former is attributed to the availability of a set of configurational states through the faster, uncorrelated, rotational motions of the smallest unit of the chains within the randomly distributed sites of frozen-in density fluctuations (McCrum et al., 1991).

Introduction. The results of research of thermoplastic polymeric materials of different chemical nature (high-­density polyethylene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride), capable of melting, spreading, burning and dripping when exposed to high fire temperatures, forming secondary fire centers, are presented. The relevance of application of a highly accurate and informative method of synchronous thermal analysis to determine the chemical nature of polymers in fire conditions is substantiated. Goals and objectives. The purpose of the research was to assess the possibility of application of the method of synchronous thermal analysis to identify polymeric materials with different degree of thermal impact on them when diagnosing the formation of secondary fires within the framework of fire-technical expertise. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were solved: thermoanalytical characteristics to identify semi-crystalline thermoplastics in the native state and exposed to high-temperature effects of fire were determined; thermoana­lytical characteristics to identify amorphous polymeric materials with different degrees of thermal impact on them were determined. Methods. The method of synchronous thermal analysis, including: thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermo­gravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry was used in the study. An example of combining the method of synchronous thermal analysis with the method of quadrupole mass spectrometry to solve the problem of identification of thermoplastics is presented. Results. The regularities of thermal and thermo-oxidative degradation of polymeric materials were studied. The methodology of identification thermoplastics by the method of synchronous thermal analysis is considered. It was established that for polymers with exposure temperatures up to 300 ° C, significant information about the chemical nature of the polymer is provided by the values of phase transition temperatures (melting, glass transition, thermal (thermo-oxidative) degradation). Determination of the chemical nature of thermoplastics with a high degree of burn-up is possible only in the presence of extrema in the curves of differential thermogravi­metry and differential scanning calorimetry in the high-temperature range of polymer thermolysis. The possibility of identification of thermoplastics by combining thermal analysis with mass spectrometry is demonstrated. Conclusions. The analysis of research results has shown that the significant thermoanalytical characteristics for identification of semi-crystalline thermoplastics are the melting temperature and the temperature of the maximum mass loss rate of the process of thermal or thermo-oxidative degradation of the polymer. For amorphous thermoplastics — the glass transition temperature and the temperature of thermo-oxidative degradation of the polymer.

Lithium metal anode based rechargeable batteries (LMB) are regarded as the most viable alternative to replace state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries (LIB) as they can provide higher-energydensity energy storage. With this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry being awarded to Akira Yoshino,M. Stanley Whittingham, and John B. Goodenough for their contribution in developing LIBs, even more attention is now drawn to the development of LMBs. Due to the highly reactive nature of metallic lithium and the change with regard to cathode, electrolyte and anode design, the industrial success of LMB has yet to be achieved. Traditionally, in an LMB the role of polymeric componentsis mostly limited to the role of separators and cathode binders. However, with the continued development of polymer chemistry and its growing number of applications in materials science, it is now recognized that designing and applying functional polymers can greatly improve thepractical performance of an LMB. This thesis describes how various polymer materials could be synthesized and tailored for improving the cycling stability of LMBs. Chapter 1 will systematically discuss the state-of-the-art of various macromolecular approaches to improve each major component of an LMB, namely the electrolyte/separators, anode-electrolyte interface, anode, cathode-electrolyte interface and highenergy- density cathode materials including layered metal oxides and sulfur. Chapter 2 describes the development of two polymer electrolytes with high lithium transference number prepared byatom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and anionic ring opening polymerization (ROP). Chapter 3 describes the development of two polymer based artificial solid electrolyte interface (SEI) that can stabilize the lithium deposition on the anode surface during lithium plating. One of the examples uses an organic/inorganic hybrid material prepared by covalently grafting polymers from a solid metal oxide by surface-initiated ATRP. Another one uses a single-ion polymer discussed in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 discusses the development of a composite lithium metal anodethat exhibits flowable properties and is compatible with ceramic solid electrolytes. Chapter 5 discusses how polymeric materials could be used as reactive surfactants to tailor the morphology of lithium metal from plain foils to microparticles and nanoflakes. Finally, a summary with outlook on future directions is provided.

From the Ground Up-Materials Science in Singapore.

Currently, there is a growing interest in the development of suitable methods for the preparation of eco-friendly and biocompatible materials in order to increase environmental protection and reduce human health risk. Therefore, this mini-review summarizes several studies involving lactides and lactones as monomers for the synthesis of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers via metal-catalyzed Ring-Opening Polymerization (ROP). Hence, synthetic approaches involving mono, bi and trinuclear metallic catalysts, with different catalytic activity, were reviewed. Complexes mostly based on metals such as Na, Mg, Al, Ti, Zn are considered. Generally, from ROP reactions, it has been found that conversion, stereoselectivity, number-average molar mass (Mn) and dispersity of the molar mass (Ð) of polymers are influenced by the type of monomer, the characteristics of the catalyst, the nature of the solvent, temperature and reaction time. Additionally, the polymer properties can also be controlled by varying the molar ratios between the monomer and the initiating system. Thus, this review may be found helpful for the scientific community and students involved in research in different areas of chemistry such as organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, polymers chemistry, and materials science. The survey covers selected data published between 2017 and 2020; however, previous relevant reports were also studied.

The idea to incorporate organic dyes into polymer materials has attracted the attention of scientists for a long time. This interest joins the efforts of researchers from the different fields of physics, chemistry, biology, and high technology. Among the various studies related to the "dye-in-polymer" field, three major approaches may be considered. The first approach is connected with the investigation of the physical and chemical properties of polymers themselves using a fluorescence probe technique. In this case dye molecular probes have become a very powerful tool for studying various phenomena in synthetic and natural polymers. This is due to the high sensitivity of spectral parameters of the dyes to their microenvironment. Different probe methods are explored, including steady-state luminescence (exploring changes in the quantum yield of emission, halfwidth, and band shapes), time-resolved measurements (analysis of fluorescence decay kinetics), and fluorescence depolarization methods (especially, time-resolved anisotropy decay). Many investigations have been made to characterize molecular mobility and chain dynamics [1], glass transition temperature (T g) for a variety of polymers and copolymers [2], relaxations at different temperatures, which involve the motions of both long and short segments of the polymer chain [3], viscosity of the microenvironment [4], and free volume effects [5]. It was shown that in amorphous polymers their microviscosity is less then their macroviscosity by many orders of magnitude. In particular, high segmental mobility is in a highly elastic state (at temperatures above T g), which is determined by the existence of microcavities of free volume inside the matrix and by the essential increase in their size in the elastic state compared with the glassy state [5]. It is now well known that the main factors that influence the rate 236of photophysical and photochemical reactions in polymers are the free volume size at a given temperature and the size of molecular groups or the scale of their motions relative to the free volume size.

For more than four decades, H. Douglas Keith was a leading figure in polymer physics. He died at his home in South Windsor, Connecticut, on 9 February 2003, following a yearlong battle with cancer. Keith was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 10 March 1927. He received a BSc from Queen’s University Belfast in 1948 and a PhD in physics from the University of Bristol in England in 1951.For the next five years, he taught as a lecturer at Bristol, where he specialized in optics. During that time, Keith was influenced by and collaborated with Peter Paul Ewald, Nevill Mott, and Charles Frank. He emigrated to the US in 1956 after accepting a position at the American Viscose Corp in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. There, Keith became interested in the complex structures and morphologies exhibited by macromolecules, a class of condensed matter that was emerging as an important category of materials. Along with Frank J. Padden Jr, he began evaluating the optical properties of spherulites, entities that form during solidification of most crystalline polymers from the melt.Keith, along with Padden, joined Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in 1960 and soon thereafter published a highly influential paper on spherulitic crystallization, subsequently known as the Keith and Padden theory. Over the next three decades, Keith interacted with a host of individuals to explain many of the mysteries surrounding the solidification of long-chain molecules.In the early 1960s, he and Padden provided one of the first morphological descriptions of melt-crystallized isotactic polypropylene, a polymeric material that today is superseded only by polyethylene in commercial importance. Their systematic experimental methods and insightful analyses were applied to many systems, including polyesters, various poly-peptides, and other crystallizable polymers. In 1965, Keith and his colleagues discovered intercrystalline links in polymers, which helped explain their mechanical strength. Four years later, he led a group that produced the first chain-folded single crystals of DNA. That work established an important bridge between synthetic and naturally occurring macromolecules. Keith was instrumental in expanding polymer science and engineering at Bell Laboratories during the 1970s. He headed the analytical chemistry research department and later the organic materials research department, from which a generation of young scientists and engineers began their research careers blending chemistry, physics, and engineering. A superb mentor, Keith combined a sophisticated understanding of physics with a deep appreciation for collaborative and interdisciplinary research. His encouragement and helpfulness to young scientists is legendary, particularly his unparalleled willingness to evaluate and debate new ideas and review manuscripts.On retiring from what was then called AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1988, Keith moved to the University of Connecticut in Storrs, where he taught and continued his research with polymers until he became professor emeritus in 1996. He remained active in research and his last publication appeared just a couple of weeks before his death. His impact on the field of polymer science and engineering continues to be felt today.Keith was a leader in the American Physical Society. He chaired the polymer physics division (1965–66) and was a divisional councillor (1977–85). He also headed the committee on applications of physics before it became the forum on industrial and applied physics. In 1973, Keith, with Padden, received APS’s Polymer Physics Prize. He was also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.Outside of his profession, Keith maintained many interests. He was an accomplished choral singer and a passionate golfer, and was broadly knowledgeable in history, biography, literature, and music.Those who knew Keith were impressed by his wisdom, common sense, erudition, and humor. He enriched the lives of many and served as a role model and mentor to a number of younger scientists worldwide who have gone on to make a name for themselves in polymer physics. He was universally recognized as a scholar and gentleman, and those who knew him remember him with great fondness.H. Douglas KeithPPT|High resolution© 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Chapter 4 - Mechanical analysis of polymers

Selective, Catalytic Oxidations of C–H Bonds in Polyethylenes Produce Functional Materials with Enhanced Adhesion

Structured databases of chemical and physical properties play a central role in the everyday research activities of scientists and engineers. In materials science, researchers and engineers turn to these databases to quickly query, compare, and aggregate various properties, thereby allowing for the development or application of new materials. The vast majority of these databases have been generated manually, through decades of labor-intensive harvesting of information from the literature; yet, while there are many examples of commonly used databases, a significant number of important properties remain locked within the tables, figures, and text of publications. The question addressed in our work is whether, and to what extent, the process of data collection can be automated. Students of the physical sciences and engineering are often confronted with the challenge of finding and applying property data from the literature, and a central aspect of their education is to develop the critical skills needed to identify such data and discern their meaning or validity. To address shortcomings associated with automated information extraction, while simultaneously preparing the next generation of scientists for their future endeavors, we developed a novel course-based approach in which students develop skills in polymer chemistry and physics and apply their knowledge by assisting with the semi-automated creation of a thermodynamic property database.

16 Polymer Science in Chemical Engineering