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BOOKS & MEDIA
Expert
Graduate
Undergraduate
APRIL 2008 | VOLUME 11 | NUMBER 458
Richard A. Pethrick has used his years of teaching
to produce a book aimed at courses on molecular
organization and structure in polymer materials. His
first interest is to gather, in a single book, information
usually available from as many monographs as there
are chapters here. A second merit of the book is to
present polymer crystallization in connection with
other systems, such as small molecules that form
crystals, plastic crystals, liquid crystals, and so on. Thus
the specific behavior of polymer
systems containing large, long
macromolecules comes to light
through comparison with simpler
systems.
As someone who teaches polymer
crystallization myself, I find it
particularly useful to take the time
to introduce the basic concepts
of nucleation and crystal growth
for small molecules, and only
then apply these concepts to
polymers. This certainly helps the
reader to think in terms of basic
concepts, before entering the
detailed description of polymer
systems. Textbooks on polymer materials often remain
strictly focused on polymers, introducing the notions
of nucleation and growth mixed in with historical
considerations. This can give students the idea that
polymer physics is a discrete field.
The chapter on polymer crystallization and growth
is a key one. Polyethylene is chosen to illustrate the
successes and limitations of the different models of
crystallization, allowing one to focus on essential facts:
chain folding, chain entanglements, etc. A chapter
on glasses and amorphous materials follows, again
using a single discussion to describe small molecule
glass-forming systems and polymers. Otherwise, the
treatment of glass transition remains classical.
The real originality of Pethrick’s approach rests on the
fact that the description of polymer crystal morphology
and the methods used to characterize it are gathered
into a single chapter (Chapter 5). The reader is thus
invited to discover the major morphologies of polymer
crystals through a number of figures that, at the same
time, give a flavor of what can be obtained from the
various techniques. A comparison of these techniques is
supported by easy to use tables and is a great help for
any nonspecialist faced with a choice of experimental
tools.
A short and more original chapter (Chapter 8) is
devoted to polymer blends. This is not usual in
textbooks on polymers despite polymer blends
having quite important practical applications.
This self-consistent chapter introduces the basic
thermodynamics of phase separation in binary
mixtures, before applying them to polymers. Several
applications, such as high impact
polystyrene of rubber toughened
epoxy resins are described, and the
chapter concludes with a discussion
of organized structures obtained with
block copolymers, another rapidly
growing field of polymer materials.
Chapter 9 is devoted to molecular
surfaces. It first presents a
thermodynamic approach to surface
energy and wettability, followed by a
description of a range of experimental
techniques for surface characterization.
The reader can rapidly gain a sense of
what can be deduced from what.
The very short chapter on polymer surfaces at the
end of the book is, in my opinion, less convincing. I
found it disappointing and much too short to be really
informative. Real applications are not mentioned (for
example, nothing is said about adhesion phenomena
or about nanopatterning using copolymer structures at
interfaces). I feel the same way about the last chapter
on colloids and molecular organization in liquids, which
is another rapid overview. Pethrick tentatively justifies
this by remarking that in many biological systems or
polar polymers the organization observed in the solid
is a consequence of a preexisting organization in the
liquid phase, but more is needed for the chapter to be
really useful.
Except for these two last chapters, the book is really
well thought out and clearly written. I thoroughly
recommend it to anyone wishing to find his or her way
through the complicated area of polymer materials.
Deciphering the tangled web Another book on polymer structure? This one contains a few chapters that are not only well thought out, but also original in their approach, allowing readers to rapidly gain a sense of what’s what.Liliane Léger | Université Paris-Sud 11, France | [email protected]
Richard A. Pethrick
Polymer Structure Characterization: From Nano to Macro
Organization
RSC Publishing • 2007 • 334 pp • ISBN: 978-0-85404-466-5
$169 / £44.99
Materials for the Hydrogen Economy
Russell H. Jones and George J. Thomas
CRC Press • 2007 • 352 pp
ISBN: 978-0-84935-024-5
$139.95 / £76.99
Hydrogen offers a clean and sustainable
source of energy and the authors of this
book describe the material requirements
for handling hydrogen from production to
market. They discuss membranes, liners,
and sensors used for separating, sealing,
and purifying hydrogen. The effects of
corrosion on storage and transportation
vessels are also described, leading to
discussions on hydrogen permeation
barriers, barrier coatings, and hydrides for
hydrogen storage.
Nanostructured Materials in Electrochemistry
Ali Eftekhari (ed.)
Wiley • 2008 • 490 pp
ISBN: 978-3-527-31876-6
$215 / £110 / �154
The editor, Ali Eftekhari, has compiled
a handbook of the latest advances in
electrochemistry at the nanoscale. He
brings together a range of contributors
to discuss the synthesis of nanowires,
nanoparticles, nanoporous, and layered
nanomaterials of various compositions, as
well as examples of applications such as
sensors, energy storage, and devices.
Tribology of Diamond-like Carbon Films
Christophe Donnet and Ali Erdemir
(eds.)
Springer • 2008 • 664 pp
ISBN: 978-0-387-30264-5
$119 / £71.50 / �92.95
This book discusses the structural,
chemical, mechanical, and tribological
characteristics of diamond-like carbon
films, emphasizing their applications
in mechanical systems ranging from
the nanoscale to the macroscale. The
fundamental tribological issues that
impact on the performance of these films
are included with respect to biomedical,
automotive, microelectronic, aerospace,
and manufacturing applications.
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