Relaxation Phenomena in Polymers

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue covers the relevant aspects of relaxation phenomena in polymers. The glassy state, viscoelasticity, and fracture mechanics are time-dependent phenomena that characterize the fundamental knowledge of polymers. From high-performance fiber composites to nanomaterials, the widespread use of polymers subtends the relaxation phenomena that determine their long-term properties. Among the others, the following arguments of physical and engineering interest are still open to debate in the literature:

• The polymers’ time dependence induced by strain changes and temperature variations is ordinarily reported, but their coupling lacks a theoretical justification.
• Structural relaxation effects during manufacturing operations generate the residual stresses in thermoplastic polymers. Their determination requires thermo-viscoelasticity formulations coupled with three-dimensional mechanics.
• The residual stresses that arise during the manufacturing process, which involves chemical reactions, are the source of early flaw formation that triggers the development of other high-performance carbon/epoxy laminate damage mechanisms, influencing their lifetime. Calculating residual stresses in such materials requires coupling the thermosetting resin’s cure kinetics and the structural relaxation phenomena on a sound theoretical basis, which is still lacking.
• Determining the properties of glassy polymers confined at the nanometric length scale, where one sample dimension is much lower than the statistical macromolecular dimension, is challenging and represents an open literature dilemma.

Dr. Luigi Grassia
Prof. Dr. Alberto D’Amore
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• viscoelasticity
• polymer processing
• nanocomposites
• structural relaxation
• residual stresses
• time-dependent mechanics
• fatigue