December 2
@
4:00 PM
–
5:00 PM
Julian Cooper
Department of Chemistry
University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Straining” for New Function in Macromolecular Systems
In this seminar, I will show how molecular strain can be an enabling tool to access new macroscopic capabilities in materials. First, I will discuss how applied strain can address end-of-life management challenges of real-world thermosetting materials. Polydicyclopentadiene (pDCPD) based thermosets made by frontal ring-opening metathesis polymerization (FROMP) can be reprocessed and recycled repeatedly by leveraging both the embedded catalyst used to make this material and compressive strain applied to the material. The subsequent generations of pDCPD display near-identical properties compared to the original material, demonstrating successful circularization of the material lifecycle.
Next, I will showcase some of the enabling capabilities that can be attained with what we’ve learned from reprocessing polyolefin thermosets and highlight some of the exciting directions the Cooper group is heading. In connecting molecular features to macroscopic behavior, we aim to tackle pressing materials challenges and identify new areas of collaboration between CBE and Chemistry here at UW-Madison.