UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

Faculty
Course

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:

:
Year/
Trimester
Session
:

Faculty of Engineering & Science

CL

Unit Code
Unit Title

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Year 4/ Trimester 2

Lecturer/
Tutor
Date

201506

UEMK4263
Polymer Engineering and
Application
Ir. Dr. Lee Tin Sin

Tutorial No.1
1. A polymer sample combines five different molecular-weight fractions, each of equal weight.
The molecular weights of these fractions increase from 20,000 to 100,000 in increments of
20,000. Calculate M n , M w and M z . Does this sample to have a broad or narrow molecular
weight distribution.
Answer:

2. Describe the following phenomenon

a. It is important to keep concentration of the by-product low enough in order to obtain
high molecular weight polymers.
Answer
According to the Le Chatelier principle, the concentration of the by-product need to be
removed so that it reaction will shift to the product side in a reversible reaction. Thus, by
removing the by-product, the condensation polymerization process will yield high
molecular weight product. Otherwise, if the concentration of the by-product is high, it tends
to undergoes depolymerization process resulted low molecular weight polymer.
b. High molecular weight polymers lead to higher tensile strength.
Answer
High molecular weight polymers cause higher entanglement of the polymer chains. Thus,
the extra force is required to disentangle the chains to make it slide on chains each other.
c. High degree of crystallinity polymers lead to higher tensile modulus.
Answer
Tensile modulus increases with increasing degree of crystallinity for semicrystalline
polymers. This is due to enhanced secondary interchain bonding which results from
adjacent aligned chain segments as percent crystallinity increases. This enchanced
interchain bonding inhibits relative interchain motion.

3. For each of the following pairs of polymers, do the following: (1) State whether it is possible to
decide whether on polymer has a higher tensile modulus than the other; (2) if this is possible,
note which has the higher tensile modulus and then cite the reason(s) for your choice: and (3) if
it is not possible to decide, then state why.
a. Random acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer with 10% of possible sites crosslinked;
alternating acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer with 5% of possible sites crosslinked.
Answer

b. Branched and syndiotactic polypropylene with degree of polymerization of 5000; linear

and isotactic polypropylene with a degree of polymerization 3000
Answer

c. Branched polyethylene with a number average molecular weight of 250,000 g/mol;

linear and isotactic poly(vinyl chloride) with a number average molecular weight of
200,000 g/mol
Answer
Yes, it is possible. The branching of polyethylene will reduce the crystallinity by
causing irregular packing of polymer in solid state. Meanwhile, the linear and isotactic
PVC promotes the crystallization and packing. Moreover, large pendant group of
chlorine attach to PVC backbone will increase the difficulty in drawing. The
insignificant different of molecular weights do not affect much on the tensile modulus.
d. Network polyester; lightly branched polypropylene.
Answer

4. Would you expect the tensile strength of polychlorotrifluoroethylene to be greater than, the
same as or less than that of a polytetrafluoroethylene specimen having the same molecular
weight and degree of crystallinity? Why?
Answer

5. Name the following polymer(s) that would be suitable for the fabrication of cups to contain hot

coffee: polyethylene, polypropylene, poly(vinyl chloride), PET polyester, and polycarbonate.

Why?
Answer

6. List the two molecular characteristics that are essential for elastic.
Answer