Polymer research at Waterloo.

Polymer Research at Waterloo

Most of the polymer research at the University of Waterloo is performed in the Institute for Polymer Research (IPR), which comprises eight professors in the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering. Table 1 lists these researchers and their main interests very

Table : Table 1 List of Researchers in University of Waterloo

          Institute for Polymer Research
Researcher          Department          Research
Charles Burns,      chemical       Compatibility of polymer blends
MCIC                engineering    plasticization of polymers
                                   surface properties
Scott Collins,      chemisty       Polymerization of ethylene and
MCIC                               propylene by soluble and

                                   supported Ziegler-Natta
                                   catalysts, chemistry of catalyst
                                   supports
Kenneth             chemical       Polymerization kinetics and
O'Driscoll, FCIC    engineering    thermodynamics, detailed
                    chemistry      modelling of the free radical
                                   home- and co-polymerizations of
                                   vinyl monomers. Preparation of
                                   oligomeric and functional
                                   polymers
Alexander           chemical       Modelling of polymerization
Penlides, FCIC      engineering    control and simulation of
                                   polymerization processes, novel
                                   polymer reactor design,
                                   optimization and control schemes,
                                   emulsion polymerization
Garry Rempel,       chemical       Chemical modification of polymers
FCIC                engineering    immobilization of catalysts on
                    chemistry      polymers, organometallic catalyzed
                                   polymerizations, emulsion
                                   polymerization
Alfred Rudin,       chemisty,      Polymer characterization, emulsion
                    chemical       polymerization,polymer, blends,
FCIC                engineering,   coatings, processing of
                    physics        thermoplastics, impact modified
                                   polymers, polyurethane foams
M. Tchir            chemistry      Organic and photochemistry of
                                   polymers, photo-initiation and
                                   polymer functionalization, NMR
                                   and analyses of polymers
Constantine         chemical       Polymer melt rheology, reactive
Tzoganakis, ACIC    engineering    processing, finite element
                                   modelling of polymer melt flow

Funding for this research, about $1.4 million a year comes from industrial contracts, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Centre for Materials Research and the Institute for Chemical Science and Technology.

In addition to this, students undertaking graduate study and polymer research under the supervision of Institute members have a choice of several programmes. Depending on whether the initial enrollment is through the chemical engineering department or the Guelph-Waterloo Centre for Graduate Work in Chemistry, masters and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering or chemistry are obtained. These may be regular or co-operative academic streams. The polymer programme provides a minimum of five graduate courses per year in polymers. At the moment, there are some 45 graduate students, research associates and postdoctoral fellows involved in research with the faculty listed in the table.

The equipment available for research work at Waterloo includes a polymerization pilot-plant, compounding and tubular-film extruders, molecular-weight characterization equipment, NMR, FTIR and rheological-measuring equipment.

As indicated in the table, a wide variety of research topics are underway at Waterloo. The subjects listed provide only a bare bones description. Space does not permit a complete listing of all the specific projects being carried out. The range includes polymerization of polyolefins and olefinic-derived elastomers with soluble and insoluble Ziegler-Natta type catalysts, development of flexible PC-based simulator processes for polymerization processes, blending and compatibilization of polymers through reactive processing and use of compatibilizing agents, production of novel, large, monomers and their use in polymer alloys and surfactants and determination of rate constants in free radical polymerizations.

The IPR and individual faculty members have extensive industrial contacts. As a consequence, many research ideas that are pursued at Waterloo have a practical flavour, even though graduate student thesis work is normally non-confidential. The majority of research students are in chemistry and chemical engineering, but some from civil and mechanical engineering and physics are also involved.

I have tried to focus on the breadth of the polymer programme at Waterloo, rather than on individual research projects. Most of our graduates find employment in polymer-related industries in Canada. Very few become academics. There are fewer opportunities for industrial researchers to specialize in narrow aspects of polymers in Canada than in larger research communities like those in the United States or Western Europe. We try, therefore, to expose our graduate students to as wide a range of polymer concepts and problems as we can, in order to prepare them better for their industrial careers. As a result, IPR research projects are quite diverse.