Our mechanical laboratory offers possibilities for measuring of a broad spectrum of mechanical properties, which generally can range from hard solids to low viscosity liquids. Studies are performed taking into account various aspects of mechanical and rheological testing: Mechanical spectroscopic measurements are applied for solving problems in which the contribution of particular molecular motions or structural rearrangements in the polymer to the mechanical response of the material are of interest. In such cases information from many other methods (NMR, DSC, X-ray diffraction, dielectric relaxation, etc.) are combined in order to make assignments of particular microscopic motions to the macroscopically observed relaxation of the material.
Rheological measurements are performed in order to characterize flow properties of polymer melts and polymer solutions. Of particular interest are heterogeneous or structured polymer systems like copolymers, gels, or polymers with liquid crystalline properties in which the flow induced structural changes or instabilities under flow still constitute unsolved problems. Relaxations in melts of macromolecules with complex topology like stars, comb polymers or microgels are investigated. Large deformations of polymers in solid or rubbery states are studied in order to deduce deformation mechanisms leading to highly oriented states and consequently to high strength materials. Material constants like elastic modulus, viscosity, compressibility, specific volume (temperature and pressure dependent) are characterized.