• Review fundamental chemistry (and physics) concepts: bonding, molecular structure and reactivity.
• Complement the study of some areas of chemistry such as main group inorganic and transition metal chemistry.
• Highlight the basic concepts necessary to correlate structure and properties of materials.
• Outline the relevance of these topics to materials science and engineering.
• Description and classification of the main classes of monomers and polymerization processes of industrial interest.
• Quantitative description of the general principles of polymerization, including a detailed statistical and kinetic analysis of the mechanisms of polymer chain formation, growth and gelation, vulcanization and crosslinking.
• Derivation of molecular theory of entropic elasticity of rubbers, highlighting the limitations of the model by comparison with the real elastomer behaviour.

After attending the course and after the final examination, the student will: 

• know and understand fundamentals in chemistry (including inorganic and organic chemistry main concepts)

• know, understand and apply chemical bonding models and concepts

• know and understand molecular symmetry concepts including the applications to molecular material properties
• know and understand the structure and symmetry of crystalline materials.
• know and understand intermolecular forces and the structure of molecular materials
• know and understand coordination complexes structure and properties
• know and understand basic concepts to correlate structure and properties of materials

• know the main types of available industrial monomers and polymers, and understand how to classify them according to their structure
• know and understand the kinetics and statistics of chain formation and growth in both step and chain polymerization processes
• know and understand how to control composition and sequence in copolymerization
• know and understand the mechanism of network formation in polyfunctional polymerization processes
• know and understand the role of catalysis in polymerization
• know the features of homogeneous and heterogeneous polymerization processes, with application to the most relevant industrial cases
• know and understand the molecular basis of the entropic elasticity model 
• know the main chemical technologies for rubber vulcanization, and the behaviour of real elastomers
• be able to apply the above described knowledge to the quantitative control of process variables in polymerization, solving numerical problems aimed at the control of rate of reaction, conversion, and molecular weight 
• be able to apply the above described knowledge to the prediction of the gel point / gel time in polyfunctionl process 
• be able to apply the entropic elasticity theory to the modeling of the mechanical behavior of elastomers 

Refer to the information provided separately for the two 5-credit modules.

A background in mathematics, chemistry and physics is needed

The final score of the Advanced Chemistry for Materials Engineering course (10 CFU) will be averaged with the results of two modules (Principles of Polymer Chemistry, Structural Chemistry of Materials ). The Advanced Chemistry for Materials Engineering (10 CFU) exam is passed and registered when the mark is at least 15/30 in both modules. The two modules may be taken separately (i.e. in two different exam sessions), but both modules must be passed during the same academic year (i.e. within the February session of the following year).