Preface

Unprovided with original learning, uninformed in the habits of thinking,

unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.
—Edward Gibbon
Since the publication of the last edition in 1999, the field of polymer science and
engineering has advanced and changed considerably. The advances come from
our increasing abilities to make a wide variety of polymers with tailor- made
structures and/or molecular weight distribution using sophisticated polymerization
techniques and to characterize the structures of such polymers at different length
scales and the corresponding properties by modern analytical techniques. This
trend is somewhat driven by the fact that polymers with tailor-made structures are
an integral part of the solution to key societal challenges facing us such as energy,
water, environment, and health care areas. It is also interesting to note that high-
volume polymers (e.g., polyethylene) are also made with tailor-made structures to
improve their performance. The other emerging front of the field of polymer is
the desire to use materials derived from renewable resources (less than 1% of the
total market nowadays) due to the increasing awareness of the substantiality of
using polymers derived from petroleum sources. Therefore, we added a new chap-
ter (Chapter 13) to introduce the new trend of using biopolymers for various
applications and what types of biopolymers have been investigated. Nevertheless,
to make polymers with tailor-made structures, a deeper understanding of the
molecular structure property relationship is needed. Therefore, the writing of this
edition stresses the molecular-level understanding of phenomena and processes
involving the use of polymers. In this regard, throughout the textbook, if applica-
ble, we explain concepts related to and/or behavior of polymers in terms of their
molecular structure, particularly their conformation. In fact, a new section was
added to Chapter 1 to elaborate the concept of conformation and various theoreti-
cal models associated with the concept. A new chapter (Chapter 6) on the diffu-
sion in polymers was added as such a topic is at the heart of many modern
technologies (e.g., separation of gases using polymer membranes).
In this edition, we decided not to include additional topics on polymer proces-
sing and polymer degradation given the expectation that the book is used for a
one semester introductory polymer course. The students should consult more spe-
cialized textbooks on these topics. The book has been substantially restructured to
fit the pedagogical requirement that the first six chapters mainly cover the basic
concepts and models of polymer conformation (Chapter 1), definition of molecu-
lar weight averages and their measurements (Chapters 2 and 3), physical and
mechanical properties of polymers (Chapter 4), and polymer solutions and blends
(Chapter 5). As mentioned, Chapter 6 covers an old but important topic: diffusion
in polymers. The second half of the book (Chapters 7 to 13) mainly focuses on
the polymerization techniques. In particular, Chapter 12 deals with polymerization
reaction engineering. We put Chapter 13 in the second half of the book simply

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because use of biopolymers requires chemical modification of natural polymers

and/or polymerization of renewable monomers.
Another motivation for the third edition of the book is to improve its style to
make it more comprehensible to undergraduate students studying in a variety of
disciplines such as chemistry, physics, pharmacy, chemical engineering, as well
as materials science and engineering. To this end, we include additional in-
chapter numerical examples and new figures to illustrate the concepts involved
and additional end-of-the-chapter practice problems. Most of the practice pro-
blems were made using published research data and/or relevant industrial data.
We believe in this way students can see how they can apply research results and
industrial data to solve practical problems. A student who understands the mate-
rial in the chapter should not find these problems time consuming. The problems
have been formulated to require numerical rather than essay-type answers, as far
as possible, since “handwaving” does not constitute good engineering or science.
The units in this book are not solely in SI terms, although almost all the quan-
tities used are given in both SI and older units. Many active practitioners have
developed intuitive understandings of the meanings and magnitudes of certain
quantities in non-SI units, and it seems to be a needless annoyance to change
these parameters completely and abruptly.
The only references included here are those dealing with particular concepts
in greater detail than this book. This omission is not meant to imply that the ideas
that are not referenced are our own, any more than the concepts in a general
chemistry textbook are those of the author of that book. We lay full claim to the
mistakes, however.
My thanks go to all the students who have endured this course before and after
the writing of the first and second editions, to the scientists and engineers whose
ideas and insights form the sum of our understanding of synthetic polymers, and
to the users who kindly pointed out errors in the previous editions. Some of the
present students of the junior author (P. C.) made important contribution to this
edition. In particular, Abolfazl Noorjahan and Nicole Lee Robertson helped write
and revise Chapter 6 and Chapter 13, respectively, and drew most of the
figures therein. Choon Ngan Teo helped prepare new examples and draw new
figures in Chapters 3 and 5 and renumbered many equations, figures, tables, and
sections of a number of chapters.
I (P. C.) express my sincere gratitude to the senior author (A. R.) for his trust
in me as well as his encouragement for the preparation of this edition. I also
express most sincere thanks to my wife, Deborah, and to my children, Calvin and
Samantha, who have given me unlimited love, support, and understanding
throughout my academic life.

Alfred Rudin and Phillip Choi