The course "Polymers and Composites for Product Innovation" aims to provide the student with the tools to consciously face the phases of material selection, data collection and organization of design strategies in the case of manufactured products entirely or in part manufactured with traditional and innovative polymeric materials and with materials with easily tailored properties, as in the case of composites. Furthermore, in presenting materials with functional properties, the course aims to develop in the student a greater awareness of the continuous process of innovation of the materials and of their potential for innovative design solutions.
In particular, the first part of the course, “MECHANICAL AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMERS AND COMPOSITES”, aims to provide specialized knowledge and understanding of the mechanical and functional behaviour of polymeric and composite materials. The course also aims at developing in the student a greater awareness in dealing with materials with behaviour that require many parameters to be described, identifying a minimum number of variables useful both for the description of the response and for the generation of data useful for the design. Making use of numerical exercises it also aims at consolidating an applied knowledge and understanding.
The second part of the course, "METHODS OF SELECTION OF MATERIAL”, aims to provide students with the tools and skills to face, within the design of objects made with polymers and composites, the selection of the most suitable material based on mechanical requirements and functional, and to support it with an effective collection of data useful for the design and a continuous updating on new materials, technologies and design solutions. Bibliographic and market research on specific classes of innovative polymers will allow the student to develop the ability to independently deepen their knowledge, employing autonomy of judgment, as well as it will serve as a useful exercise to use the English language in its technical form and for the development of communication skills.
At the end of the course, the student will be able to understand, describe and know how to deal with complex material behavior, such as the time and temperature dependence of polymeric materials, or the dependence on composition and stress direction of structured materials such as composites; he will know how to apply theoretical knowledge to simple practical cases and analytically approach the mechanical and functional behaviour of novel materials and systems. Furthermore, the student will be able to adopt strategies for the material selection, to plan experimental campaigns for obtaining useful data for material selection, and to perform bibliographic and market research on innovative materials in an accurate and critical manner.
