Applied Mechanics of Polymers

Book excerpt: Applied Mechanics of Polymers: Properties, Processing, and Behavior provides readers with an overview of the properties, mechanical behaviors and modeling techniques for accurately predicting the behaviors of polymeric materials. The book starts with an introduction to polymers, covering their history, chemistry, physics, and various types and applications. In addition, it covers the general properties of polymers and the common processing and manufacturing processes involved with them. Subsequent chapters delve into specific mechanical behaviors of polymers such as linear elasticity, hyperelasticity, creep, viscoelasticity, failure, and fracture. The book concludes with chapters discussing electroactive polymers, hydrogels, and the mechanical characterization of polymers. This is a useful reference text that will benefit graduate students, postdocs, researchers, and engineers in the mechanics of materials, polymer science, mechanical engineering and material science. Additional resources related to the book can be found at polymersmechanics.com. - Provides examples of real-world applications that demonstrate the use of models in designing polymer-based components - Includes access to a companion site from where readers can download FEA and MATLAB code, FEA simulation files, videos and other supplemental material - Features end-of-chapter summaries with design and analysis guidelines, practice problem sets based on real-life situations, and both analytical and computational examples to bridge academic and industrial applications