The aim of this module is to present basic theoretical approaches for the transformation kinetics of various materials and apply these, especially in polymers. Special cases are presented for the kinetics study of Polymerization Reactions, Cross-linking and crystallization process using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) data. Various methods for simulating data are presented and used. Also, the basic equations used for the study of materials’ thermal decomposition, as well as their application to polymers’ degradation experimental data are presented. For this study isoconversional and model fitting methods have been used in order to calculate the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor and for the determination of the reaction mechanism.
The aim of this lesson is to introduce the students to the kinetics of polymerization reactions both theoretically and experimentally. The application of DSC to monitor polymerization kinetics will be presented, emphasizing to its advantages and disadvantages. The use of mechanistic or isoconversional approaches to model DSC based polymerization kinetics will be also presented.
The aim of this module is to present basic theoretical approaches to crystallization process of various materials and apply these in polymer crystallization data. Various methods for simulating crystallization kinetics are presented and used, by giving emphasis on a different approach: the theoretical processing of the experimental data, using isoconversional and model fitting methods.
The aim of this lesson is to present the advantages and the capabilities of using DSC in measuring the kinetics of curing/
crosslinking reactions. Theoretical models and isoconversional approaches applied to curing kinetics will be explored.
Specific case studies will be presented concerning the used of DSC in measuring the curing kinetics of dental materials, epoxy resins and hydrogel formation.
The aim of the present course is to present the basic equations used for the study of materials’ thermal decomposition, as well as their application to polymers’ degradation experimental data. Specific examples are used in order to demonstrate: a) what happens when we use experimental and pre-determined theoretical data for the fitting, b) the identification problems when using experimental data obtained with one heating rate, c) how we can proceed the fitting of the experimental data using isoconversional and model fitting methods in order to calculate the activation energy and the pre-exponential factor and to determine the reaction mechanism, d) the adoption of combined mechanisms, as well as the problems of choosing the right combination.