Course Information
CM4655
Polymer Rheology Laboratory

Dr. Faith A. Morrison, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
Chem-Sci-Eng 304A
phone 906-487-2050
lab phone:  906-281-4224
email fmorriso@mtu.edu
Office hours: click here

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COURSE DESCRIPTION
(From the course catalog)  Basic techniques for acquisition of shear rheological data in torsional shear (cone-and-plate and parallel-plate) and capillary shear will be taught. Also covered will be sample preparation and handling techniques for polymers. Credits: 1.0 Lec-Rec-Lab: (0-0-3) Semesters Offered: On Demand, usually Fall. Restrictions: Permission of instructor required; May not be enrolled in one of the following Class(es): Freshman, Sophomore Pre-requisites: CM 4610(C) or CH 4610(C) or CM 4650(C).

LAB FEE:  $286

A course in polymer rheology, CM4650, is offered most spring semesters and covers all the theory and background related to polymer rheology.  The two courses may be taken in either order.

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TEXT:
Understanding Rheology, by Faith A. Morrison, Oxford University Press, 2001.  Available from Amazon.com and in the book store.   Additional supplementary materials will be supplied.

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WEB PAGE:   http://www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/cm4655/cm4655.html

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LABORATORY SAFETY

The rheological equipment used in this class is located in the Chemical Sciences Building rooms 309 and 309A.  Department of Chemical Engineering safety rules must be obeyed at all times while in CM laboratories.  These are detailed in the Departmental Safety Manual, which is available on the web at  this link:  www.chem.mtu.edu/chem_eng/resources/safety/images/SafetyManual2004.pdf

The safety rules particular to this course may be found at this link:  www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/cm4655/safety.html

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SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS:

Dynamics of Polymer Liquids, Volume 1: Fluid Mechanics, R. B. Bird, R. C. Armstrong, and O. Hassager (Wiley: New York, 1987). This is the book that was formerly used as the text of the course. I will refer to this book either as BAH (authors' initials) or DPL (title initials).

Transport Phenomena, R. B. Bird, W. E. Stewart, and E. N. Lightfoot (BSL)  (John Wiley & Sons:  New York, 1960).

Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers, J. D. Ferry (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.:  New York, 1980).

Rheometry, K. Walters (Chapman & Hall:  London, 1975).

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GRADING SCHEME

 There will be two lab assignments, four team lab reports based on that data, and two individual homeworks.  Each of these assignments will count equally.  Ten percent of the grade will be on the instructor's evaluation of your laboratory and team performance.  There will be no exams and no final.

Reports should follow engineering report standards.  You may see my handouts on this subject at the links below.  Feedback on reports will be accompanied by the Report Grading Feedback form, which contains a helpful list of problems to avoid.

Report Help:

• Summary of report-writing advice: www.chem.mtu.edu/%7Efmorriso/cm3215/SummaryReportAdvice.html
• Guidelines for preparing graphs are given at this link: www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/cm3215/GraphingGuidelines.pdf
• Guidelines for referencing books, articles, and other standard materials are given at this link:  Lehigh University Chemical Engineering Style Guide
• Guidelines for referencing web pages are given at this link: www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/cm4655/web_citations.html
• Guidelines for writing appendices are given at this link www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/cm4655/use_of_appendices.html (normally the only appendix in your reports will be raw data)
• Helpful hints on typing equations using MSWord 2007 Equation Editor
• Guidelines on error bars and reporting data as a value plus/minus a range are discussed at this link: http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/res/gt/gt-stat-home.html

Homework Policies