327-0502-AAL  Polymers I

SemesterAutumn Semester 2020
LecturersM. Kröger
Periodicityevery semester recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentEnrolment ONLY for MSc students with a decree declaring this course unit as an additional admission requirement.

Any other students (e.g. incoming exchange students, doctoral students) CANNOT enrol for this course unit.


AbstractPhysical foundations of single polymer molecules and interacting chains.
Learning objectiveThe course offers a modern approach to the understanding of universal static and dynamic properties of polymers.
ContentPolymer Physics:
1. Introduction to Polymer Physics, random walks, ideal chains
2. Semiflexible chains
3. Excluded volume
4. Lattice models
5. Scaling theory
6. Interacting chains
7. Structure factor and scattering experiments
8. Solvent and temperature effects
9. Phase separation and critical phenomena
10. Flory theory, self-consistent field theory
11. Dendrimers and polymer brushes
12. Blob model
13. Polymer mixtures
14. Block copolymers
15. Polymer gels, theory of rubber elasticity
16. Rouse and reptation models
17. Rheology, viscoelasticity
18. Computer experiments
19. Dynamic light scattering
20. Fokker-Planck equations, stochastic differential equations
Lecture noteshttp://www.polyphys.mat.ethz.ch/education/courses/polymers-I
Literature1. M. Rubinstein and R. H. Colby, Polymer Physics (Oxford University Press, 2003)
2. P. G. de Gennes, Scaling Concepts in Polymer Physics (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1979)
3. M. Doi, Introduction to Polymer Physics (Oxford, Oxford, 2006)
4. M. Kröger, Models for polymeric and anisotropic liquids (Springer, Berlin, 2005)
Prerequisites / NoticeComputer experiments will use the simple MATLAB programming language and will be made available, if necessary or useful.