Inaugural lectures
Wednesday February 25, 2009
Spinning around polymers
Professor Sanjay Rastogi,
Department of Materials
Polymers are long molecules where the structural units are connected by covalent bonding. Polymers can be synthetic as well as naturally occurring biopolymers. The well known examples of synthetic polymers are polyethylenes, polypropylenes etc, and for biopolymers the most famous is the DNA molecule.
The mechanical properties of the material are influenced to the extent that the applications of the same polymer may vary from commodity to engineering, and thus the same polymer is able to fulfil the requirements of highly demanding applications such are prostheses, body armours, fire resistant paints, smart clothing, organic solar cells etc.
The development of a polymer for a required application demands bridging polymer chemistry, polymer physics, polymer rheology and polymer processing. Thus polymer science requires a multidisciplinary approach as adopted by Prof Rastogi in his research on understanding polymer physics and polymer rheology of synthesised materials in depth.
In this lecture Professor Rastogi will address a route to resolve some of the existing problems in prostheses, materials that behave similar to ice, dissolution of nylons and feathers in water.