THIS COURSE WILL BE TAUGHT IN THE AMAZON BRANCH OF THE UNIVERSITY IN LETICIA, AMAZONAS

June 28th - July 2nd

Ethic and historical implications about the polymer industry development are part of the introduction of this course. The course begins with an historical perspective of the rubber from its exploitation at the Amazonas jungle until its synthetic production in Auschwitz. The course continues presenting the fundamental principles that must be considered for the design of plastic products. Such principles have their root on the molecular structure and the polymer morphology. This course philosophy is based on the 5 P´s; Polymer, Processing, Product, Performance and Post-consumer life. This principle establishes that the product performance can’t be detached from the material it is made of (polymer) and the manufacturing process used to produce it (processing). At the same time, during the design process, the post-consume life of the product must be taken into account. The polymer and its molecular structure are the basis of the rheological and mechanical behavior from the material, during the process and longevity of the product. Then the time factor become important in different properties as viscoelasticity, tensile stress relaxation and solids flow (creep). During the course different examples of the polymer physics will be presented. This course makes an introduction over all these concepts and creates a basis for all student and engineer interested in a deeper study of the polymer science and plastic products design.

Course Coordinator:

Juan Pablo Hernández, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota

Professor Hernandez-Ortiz obtained his Mechanical Engineering Degree at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellin, Colombia. Professor W. Florez advised his diploma thesis in Boundary Elements for Non-Newtonian Fluids. He then jointed the Energy and Thermodynamics Institute, with Professor F. Chejne, to participate in projects related to thermodynamics of non-linear phenomena. In 2000, he moved to Madison-Wisconsin for his doctoral studies under the supervision of Professor T.A. Osswald in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; he obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2004 on Integral Equation Theory for Non-Linear Flows and Particle Suspensions. He received the Quadrant (Switze rland), Ensinger (Germany) and Placon (Madison) awards for his doctoral studies. He co-authored, with Professor Osswald, the text “Polymer Processing: Modeling and Simulation”. In 2004, he moved to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for a pos-doctoral position with Professors J. de Pablo and M.D. Graham. In 2007, he jointed the faculty of Materials at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medelllin. His research interests are focused on the study of confined multi-phase systems, such as polymer solutions, liquid crystals and suspensions, far from equilibrium. In 2009, he received an honorary position in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and he is co-author of more than 20 papers in engineering and physics journals.

Guest Speakers:

Tim Osswald, Director of the Polymer Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Tim Osswald is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Polymer Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Cúcuta, Colombia, he received his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the field of Polymer Processing. He spent two and one half years at the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Aachen, Germany, as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow. He received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award, as well as the 2001 VDI-K Dr--Richard-Escales-Preis. In 2006 he was named an Honorary Professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. Professor Osswald teaches polymer processing and designing with polymers and researches in the same areas. Professor Osswald has published over 100 papers, the books Materials Science of Polymers for Engineers (Hanser, 1996, 2003), Polymer Processing Fundamentals (Hanser 1998), Injection Molding Handbook (Hanser, 2001) Compression Molding (Hanser, 2003), Polymer Processing Modeling and Simulation (Hanser 2006), and International Plastics Handbook (Hanser 2006). Professor Osswald is also the series editor of Plastics Pocket Power (Hanser, 2001), which currently includes 6 books. Professor Osswald has also been consulted by several industries, is one of the co-founders of The Madison Group, and is the Director of the Technical Advisory Board of SIMTEC Silicone Parts.

Alejandro Roldán Alzate, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Alejandro Roldán Alzate is a research associate in the Biomedical Engineering department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Medellín, Colombia, he received his B.S. Biomedical Engineering from the Universities EIA-CES in Medellín and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fields of Polymer Processing. He has taught polymer processing courses at the University of Wisconsin as well as in companies in the area. He is a co-author of the book Plastics Testing and Characterization (Hanser, 2008).

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: