Some remarks on the teaching of polymer processing to mechanical engineering students

Polymer processing is a fundamental part of modern science and technology, but it is not a high profile component in a mechanical engineering course. This paper proposes a course for teaching polymer processing to mechanical engineering students. The aim has been to find the proper balance between a purely theoretical and a design-oriented approach. The course outline is proposed and some remarks on the teaching style and the available teaching aids are given. These include the use of analogies and semi-finished products in order to identify and visualize the different processing stages. Finally, some more advanced topics have been proposed which can be delivered as part of a graduate course. The global purpose of the whole programme is to introduce the teaching of polymer processing operations in a mechanical engineering course, where previous experience in the field is not available.