Exploring Thermal Mechanics in Polymeric Materials: Thermomechanical and Self-Healing Properties

Go from analyzing thermomechanical properties to using that data to design new kinds of polymeric materials, including next gen self-healing polymers.

First learn the basics of thermal analysis with Tim White from the University of Colorado Boulder, as he explores the use of techniques like differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis. Learn how these methods not only reveal fundamental material characteristics such as glass transition temperature, but also enable the evaluation of stimuli-response in material systems.

Next, join Dhriti Nepal from the Air Force Research Lab as she investigates the world of vitrimer materials—crosslinked polymers with dynamic covalent bonds. Discover how to characterize their thermo-mechanical properties and determine their vitrimer transition temperature to leverage their dynamic behavior for self-healing composites. Then take a deeper dive and learn the power of dynamic mechanical analysis in characterizing vitrimers and vitrimer nanocomposites, assessing stress relaxation, and calculating the vitrimer transition temperature.

This ACS Webinar is moderated by Rachel Letteri of the University of Virginia and is co-produced with the ACS Division of Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering (PMSE).

What You Will Learn

• How to use differential scanning calorimetry to identify the temperature of glass transition, crystalline melting, or liquid crystalline phase transitions
• The intricacies of mechanical property determination via dynamic mechanical analysis of stimuli-responsive materials
• Utilizing dynamic mechanical analysis to quantify the stimuli-response of material actuators
• How to use stress−relaxation experiments and non-isothermal creep to calculate Tv
• How to use TMA to calculate Tv
• Utilization of DMA to understand creep behavior of vitrimer

Meet The Experts

• Tim White, Gallogly Professor of Engineering, Associate Director of Research at the Center for National Security Initiatives, and Graduate Director in Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado
• Dhriti Nepalr, Research Materials Engineer, Air Force Research Lab
• Rachel Letteri, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia