Polymers and plastics

Polymers are a vital part of contemporary life and a brief one page introduction to polymers is given in;

An introduction to the world of polymers (.pdf).

The polymers section of the web page has been divided into specific areas where I have had first hand experience.

This first section is organised with two powerpoint presentations and then followed by my Cambridge Polymer lecture notes.

Polymer Crystallisation

Polymer crystallisation is at the heart of many polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Understanding the way in which synthetic polymers crystallise has had a huge impact on both plastics and also the understanding of biological polymer systems.

web-Crystallisation-2015.3 (.pdf)

Liquid Crystal Polymers

This area of polymer science was very active in the 1980s and at one point it looked as though LCPs were going to become as important as semi crystalline polymers

Liquid Crystal Polymers (.pdf)

Polymer Lecture Notes

My polymer lecture notes were given in the 1990s and so they appear rather basic compared to more modern presentations. Also at the time I used the notes as a basis to the course and filled in certain sections and areas on the overhead projector as I went along. So, in some cases you will need to be able to read between the lines!

polymer lecture notes

Brilliant Scientists

Finally there is a presentation on Five brilliant scientists.I gave this presentation in 2011 to I suspect a bewildered set of undergraduate students at an Engineering School in Nantes. Individuals are at the heart of science and innovation and in my opinion it is important to recognise the contributions that they have made! I have revisited this presentation in 2021 and added a few additional points (in red) including a summary conclusion.

Five brilliant Polymer Scientist (.pdf)