18th November – Stretched to breaking point. When is this a good thing for Polymer Materials? – Dr Niamh Fox

18th November 2024

Stretched to breaking point. When is this a good thing for Polymer Materials?

Dr Niamh Fox

Plastics are used in every aspect of our lives due to their strength and how easy they are to process. They are often used because of their remarkable mechanical properties to make lightweight and strong material ranging from things such as shopping bags to bike helmets. However, during their use they experience a range of mechanical forces, such as when carrying a heavy load. If a large enough force is experienced, the polymer chains that make up these plastics become stretched, which can break chemical bonds, degrading the material and thus reducing the lifetime of the final product. 

In this talk, Dr Niamh Fox, a lecture in Polymer Science in the Department of Materials at the University of Manchester, will introduce the area of polymer mechanochemistry and the emerging idea of using mechanical force to drive productive chemical reactions, with the objective of ultimately improving the properties of polymer materials and increasing their usable lifetime.