This book presents recent advances in computational methods for polymers. It covers multiscale modeling of polymers, polymerization reactions, and polymerization processes as well as control, monitoring, and estimation methods applied to polymerization processes. It presents theoretical insights gained from multiscale modeling validated with exprimental measurements. The book consolidates new computational tools and methods developed by academic researchers in this area and presents them systematically. The book is useful for graduate students, researchers, and process engineers and managers.

Liquid crystals, polymers and polymer liquid crystals are soft condensed matter systems of major technological and scientific interest. An understanding of the macroscopic properties of these complex systems and of their many and interesting peculiarities at the molecular level can nowadays only be attained using computer simulations and statistical mechanical theories. Both in the Liquid Crystal and Polymer fields a considerable amount of simulation work has been done in the last few years with various classes of models at different special resolutions, ranging from atomistic to molecular and coarse-grained lattice models. Each of the two fields has developed its own set of tools and specialized procedures and the book aims to provide a state of the art review of the computer simulation studies of polymers and liquid crystals. This is of great importance in view of a potential cross-fertilization between these connected areas which is particularly apparent for a number of experimental systems like, e.g. polymer liquid crystals and anisotropic gels where the different fields necessarily merge. An effort has been made to assess the possibilities of a coherent description of the themes that have developed independently, and to compare and extend the theoretical and computational techniques put forward in the different areas.

Very few polymer mechanics problems are solved with only pen and paper today, and virtually all academic research and industrial work relies heavily on finite element simulations and specialized computer software. Introducing and demonstrating the utility of computational tools and simulations, Mechanics of Solid Polymers provides a modern view of how solid polymers behave, how they can be experimentally characterized, and how to predict their behavior in different load environments. Reflecting the significant progress made in the understanding of polymer behaviour over the last two decades, this book will discuss recent developments and compare them to classical theories. The book shows how best to make use of commercially available finite element software to solve polymer mechanics problems, introducing readers to the current state of the art in predicting failure using a combination of experiment and computational techniques. Case studies and example Matlab code are also included. As industry and academia are increasingly reliant on advanced computational mechanics software to implement sophisticated constitutive models – and authoritative information is hard to find in one place - this book provides engineers with what they need to know to make best use of the technology available. - Helps professionals deploy the latest experimental polymer testing methods to assess suitability for applications - Discusses material models for different polymer types - Shows how to best make use of available finite element software to model polymer behaviour, and includes case studies and example code to help engineers and researchers apply it to their work

Powerful computers now enable scientists to model the physical and chemical properties and behavior of complex materials using first principles. This book introduces dramatically new computational techniques in materials research, specifically for understanding molecular dynamics.

The papers in this book deal with computational methods for predicting material processing defects. Using recent advances in finite strain plasticity and viscoplasticity, damage modelling, bifurcation and instability theory, fracture mechanics and computer numerical techniques, new approaches to mechanical defect analysis are proposed. Appropriate methods for explaining and avoiding the defects leading to fracture, high porosity, strain localization or undesirable geometrical imperfections are presented. In addition, some papers are devoted to new formulations and new calculation algorithms to be used for solving the forming problems. Finally, two papers deal with physical description of defects occurring in forming and cutting operations, focusing on the academic and practical interest of these topics.This is the first book to deal with the prediction of defects occurring in material forming processes; it contains much of interest from both a theoretical and a practical viewpoint.

This book is the first to introduce a mesoscale polymer simulation system called OCTA. With its name derived from "Open Computational Tool for Advanced material technology," OCTA is a unique software product, available without charge, that was developed in a project funded by Japanese government. OCTA contains a series of simulation programs focused on mesoscale simulation of the soft matter COGNAC, SUSHI, PASTA, NAPLES, MUFFIN, and KAPSEL. When mesoscale polymer simulation is performed, one may encounter many difficulties that this book will help to overcome. The book not only introduces the theoretical background and functions of each simulation engine, it also provides many examples of the practical applications of the OCTA system. Those examples include predicting mechanical properties of plastic and rubber, morphology formation of polymer blends and composites, the micelle structure of surfactants, and optical properties of polymer films. This volume is strongly recommended as a valuable resource for both academic and industrial researchers who work in polymer simulation.