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History of the polymer IRC

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The Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Polymer Science and Technology (Polymer IRC) was created with financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in 1989. At that time the establishment of the IRC was perceived as essential for maintaining a foothold in macromolecular materials research in the UK.

The Polymer IRC was originally a consortium of scientists and engineers from the Universities of Bradford, Durham and Leeds. The Sheffield Polymer Centre joined us in 2004, further contributing to the range of skills we can access to solve new scientific and technical problems.

Over the last twenty five years the Polymer IRC has strengthened polymer research in the UK, founding a dynamic local scientific culture that is producing work of international importance, and great domestic economic value. For examples:

Molecular rheology for predictive polymer processing

This has provided several industrial partners with molecular-based software for polymer design, and the international community with a new standard mathematical toolbox for modelling branched polymers (the “pom-pom” model).

Hot compaction

Expertise in controlled processing, experimental scattering and synthesis have resulted in advances in the understanding and control of polymer crystallisation.

This apparently esoteric skill permits the process engineer to tune polymer properties across a fabrication in a process called "hot compaction of oriented polymers". As a result high performance materials can be made from a single polymer, as opposed to having to use composites. Consumer goods made using this technology (such as the shinpads shown right) have excellent service characteristics, and can be easily recycled.

This technique is now undergoing full scale commercialisation, see www.curvonline.com for more details.