Turner Alfrey Visiting Professor Program

This years Visiting Professor is Professor Thomas P. Russell (resume in pdf format), the Silvio O. Conte Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

There has been an enormous surge of interest in the surface and interfacial behavior of polymeric materials. This interest, in part, arises from the remarkable interest in nanostructured materials where the surfaces and interfaces become increasingly important. Yet, age-old questions continue to be of interest, like wetting, adhesion, and the glass transition temperature, where surfaces and interfaces provide unique avenues to arrive at some answers. Wrapped up with all of this has been the tremendous growth in the number of techniques that have emerged with sufficient spatial resolution and sensitivity to address questions on the nanoscopic level. This short course is designed to delve into the area of the surface and interfacial behavior of polymers by discussing some of the techniques that have emerged that enable questions to be answered. It will then discuss the interactions that polymers experience at surfaces and interfaces (favorable or otherwise) and the ramifications of these interactions. It then moves into the use of external fields to overcome interfacial interactions and to use these external fields to impart marked orientation and ordering in polymeric, specifically block copolymeric materials, and the use of these structures as scaffolds and templates for the fabrication of nanostructured materials. Unlike polymers, the interfacial behavior of nanoparticles is strongly influenced by the physical size of the particles. The assembly of nanoparticles at interfaces will be discussed in terms of self-healing and self-corralling systems that are beginning to emerge as candidates for photovoltaic devices. Finally, the ultrathin films formed by nanoparticles are known to wrinkle and the manner in which the wrinkling occurs can be used to determine the modulus, relaxation behavior, and Tg of thin films.

• Characterization Methods. Optical microscopy, dynamic secondary ion mass spectroscopy, forward recoil spectroscopy, neutron and x-ray reflectivity, ellipsometry, electron tomography, transmission electron microscopy, grazing incidence x-ray scattering, resonance x-ray scattering, near edge x-ray adsorption spectroscopy, x-ray microscopy, scanning force microscopy, laser scanning fluorescence spectroscopy.
• Preferential Interfacial Interactions. Interfacial interactions, surface energy, adhesion, polymer mixtures, block copolymers, patterned surfaces, ultrahydrophobic surfaces, commensurability.
• Balanced Interfacial Interactions. Interfacial interactions, surface modification, block copolymer templating, internal fields (salts, homopolymers), long-range lateral ordering, commensurability.
• External Fields. Electrohydrodynamic instabilities, microdomain orientation (electric fields, magnetic fields, solvent fields), block copolymer lithography (scaffolds).
• Interfacial Behavior. Block, random, and multi-block copolymers at interfaces (influence on adhesion), nanoparticles at fluid interfaces (assembly, dynamics, chemistries, encapsulation, self-healing systems, nanorods at interfaces), self-healing and self-corralling (applications).
• VI. Wrinkling in Thin Polymer Films. Modulus thickness, relaxation behavior, Tg in thin films.

Title:	Surface and Interfacial Behavior of Polymers
Course Number:	COURSE 1035
Lecturer:	Professor Thomas P. Russell
Place:	Lecture Hall (Room 101), Michigan Molecular Institute, 1910 West St. Andrews Road, Midland, MI 48640
Time:	Formal lectures: Monday – Friday, May 12 – 16, 2008, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Fee:	There is no fee for auditors if they belong to organizations that are financial sponsors of the Turner Alfrey Visiting Professor program: The Dow Chemical Company, Dow Corning Corporation, Central Michigan University, Michigan State University, Saginaw Valley State University, Midland Section of the ACS, and Mid-Michigan Section of the SPE. For all others, a course fee of $300 will be required at registration. All participants, however, must register.
Registration:	Pre-registration is required one week in advance with the Registrar by calling (989) 832-5555, ext. 555 or by e-mail at registrar@mmi.org.